Dysphagia in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy evaluated with a questionnaire and videofluorography.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate swallowing problems in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) using a questionnaire and videofluorography (VF).


METHODS
A questionnaire survey was performed of swallowing-related symptoms and VF in 31 male patients with DMD (mean age 19.9 years, range 9 - 26 years). The relationships among age, frequency of symptoms and VF abnormalities were analysed using Spearman's rank correlation. The differences in VF abnormalities among different food textures were analysed with the Kruskal - Wallis test.


RESULTS
Symptoms related to pharyngeal phase dysfunction were more frequent than those related to oral and oesophageal phases. Coughing while eating was seen in 71% of the patients, choking while eating in 32% and the need to clear the throat in 26%. VF abnormalities were observed in 30 patients (96.8%). Common VF abnormalities included pooling in the valleculae (90.3%) and in the pyriform sinus (90.3%). Pharyngo-oral regurgitation was seen in 35.5% of the patients. Pooling in the pyriform sinus after repeated swallowing seen in VF correlated significantly with symptoms related to the pharyngeal phase (Spearman's rho 0.356 - 0.544).


CONCLUSIONS
Because oropharyngeal dysphagia in DMD was evident in teenage patients as well as those without clinical symptoms, VF is recommended in patients with DMD.
Hanayama
Kozo
K
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan. hanayama@is.icc.u-tokai.ac.jp
Liu
Meigen
M
Higuchi
Yoshiko
Y
Fujiwara
Toshiyuki
T
Tsuji
Testuya
T
Hase
Kimitaka
K
Ishihara
Tadayuki
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000150:complications*; D009960:Oropharynx / Q000503:physiopathology; D010779:Photofluorography / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014743:Videotape Recording