title: Dysphagia in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Although dysphagia is an important symptom associated with prognosis in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), dysphagia tends to be overlooked until swallowing difficulties reach an advanced phase. We assessed dysphagia with videofluoroscopic examination of swallowing in 31 patients with mainly mild or moderate PD. Swallowing problems were observed in the pharyngeal phase in 28 patients, oral phase in 19 patients, esophageal phase in 15 patients, and oral preparatory phase in 1 patient. Therefore, dysphagia in the pharyngeal phase was observed in almost all patients with mild or moderate PD. In contrast, no dysfunction was detected in most patients when screening was conducted via questionnaire or other methods. Assessment of clinical parameters in the present study suggests that latent swallowing dysfunction may be present even in the early disease stage in PD. A future prospective study to follow swallowing functions in a pre-symptomatic phase in PD would be fruitful to find whether swallowing dysfunction is one of the prodromal symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Itsuki Hospital.
authors.forename: Shinobu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hisashi
authors.forename: Ryoko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fukumitsu
authors.forename: Mitsuyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nodera
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Otani
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maruoka
authors.forename: Kazumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Yuishin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Izumi
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaji
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishida
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003679:Deglutition; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications*; D014741:Video Recording