Unspecific Findings of Oropharyngeal and Esophageal Dysmotility During Solid Bolus Swallowing.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Dysphagia is a common symptom which can be caused by several functional and organic conditions. The aim of the present retrospective study was to re-evaluate examinations from patients diagnosed with functional dysphagia/hypersensitive esophagus and to evaluate relationship between bolus arrest and symptoms/comorbidities.

METHODS

All elective radiological swallowing examinations performed during a prior 2-year period were identified (n = 335). Among those who had undergone tablet swallowing test and gave consent to participate, 42 patients (13%) had received the diagnosis functional dysphagia/hypersensitive esophagus. Medical records were scrutinized for these patients.

RESULTS

After exclusion of 2 patients with inadequate information from the examination, 40 patients (68% women), 55 ± 16 years, weight 74.4 ± 19.7 kg, remained. When re-evaluating the examinations, the liquid phase revealed that 2 patients had slow contrast passage, 10 patients had some degree of non-propulsive and/or tertiary contractions, and 6 patients had pharyngeal disturbances with retention and/or aspiration of contrast. Although passage of the tablet to the stomach, 27 patients exhibited a transient tablet stop, which led to symptoms in 16 cases. There was a strong correlation between tablet arrest and symptoms (p < 0.001) but not comorbidity (p = 0.596).Few other examinations were performed to further evaluate the etiology of dysphagia, although several of the patients had comorbidity in the form of reflux, and systemic diseases such as diabetes and rheumatological- and neurological diseases.

CONCLUSIONS

This report highlights the needs of improved health care for the patient group suffering from dysphagia and a closer inter-disciplinary collaboration.