When the esophagus stops working properly, people develop a condition known as dysphagia, or impaired swallowing. It is not a pleasant experience as it interferes with the person's ability to maintain a healthy diet. It sometimes causes pain as well. Doctors use several methods of swallow study for dysphagia in order to diagnose and treat this condition.
The process of swallowing starts when the food enters the mouth. The tongue manipulates it around as it is chewed, and then shoves it backwards down the throat. Once that has happened, the gullet rhythmically pushes the ingested matter down its entire length to the opening of the stomach. This opening is called the gastric sphincter, and the rhythmic pushing is called peristalsis. The food then passes into the stomach.
There are a number of issues that can cause the swallowing action to become obstructed or even impossible. Injured or strained muscles are one obvious cause. They may also be merely too weak or dysfunctional to assist the process.
Another possibility is that the peristalsis can become spasmodic. This condition is technically known as diffuse spasms and is based in the gullet's involuntary muscles. The spasms are intense and rapid, as opposed to their usual motion.
Sometimes, the gullet is blocked by excessively large chunks of food. Cancer patients with tumors in the gullet may have a similar experience. The ingestion of foreign bodies is always dangerous because it can have this effect.
The nervous system regulates the muscles involved in swallowing, so any neurological trouble can impair it too. Disorders like multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy are one possibility, but nervous damage through stroke or injury is another.
Monitoring the swallowing action is necessary in diagnosing the problem. The person is asked to eat or drink something that has been infused with barium, which is the contrast material. The X-ray cannot show muscle tissue but in the presence of barium it is able to, because the metal reflects the X-rays. Their esophagus is then checked to see how it functions as it processes the ingested material. This is known as a dynamic swallowing exercise.
A more preliminary refinement of this process is for the person to swallow the same food and then undergo X-rays after it has coated their gullet with the contrast metal. The muscles of the food passage can then be inspected to see if they are working normally or if the passage is obstructed.
The use of X-rays is dependent on the patient ingesting a barium solution or pill, or food impregnated with this metal. Barium is able to highlight muscle tissue, which ordinarily X-rays cannot. Once the patient has ingested the metal, the X-rays are taken. The doctor can then read the barium signature to determine what the issue in the gullet is, whether dysfunction or blockage.
In an endoscopy, the doctor uses a cable with a camera on its end to perform the internal examination. The camera transmits photographic images to a screen. Endoscopy is a very common procedure in modern medicine and is used to diagnose other problems too. The word is composed of two Greek terms, endo and scopy, meaning inside and view.
None of these techniques is extremely traumatic. Older adults are the more usual sufferers of dysphagia, but anyone who has been experiencing discomfort or impairment in swallowing should consult with their doctor as a matter of urgency.
The process of swallowing starts when the food enters the mouth. The tongue manipulates it around as it is chewed, and then shoves it backwards down the throat. Once that has happened, the gullet rhythmically pushes the ingested matter down its entire length to the opening of the stomach. This opening is called the gastric sphincter, and the rhythmic pushing is called peristalsis. The food then passes into the stomach.
There are a number of issues that can cause the swallowing action to become obstructed or even impossible. Injured or strained muscles are one obvious cause. They may also be merely too weak or dysfunctional to assist the process.
Another possibility is that the peristalsis can become spasmodic. This condition is technically known as diffuse spasms and is based in the gullet's involuntary muscles. The spasms are intense and rapid, as opposed to their usual motion.
Sometimes, the gullet is blocked by excessively large chunks of food. Cancer patients with tumors in the gullet may have a similar experience. The ingestion of foreign bodies is always dangerous because it can have this effect.
The nervous system regulates the muscles involved in swallowing, so any neurological trouble can impair it too. Disorders like multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy are one possibility, but nervous damage through stroke or injury is another.
Monitoring the swallowing action is necessary in diagnosing the problem. The person is asked to eat or drink something that has been infused with barium, which is the contrast material. The X-ray cannot show muscle tissue but in the presence of barium it is able to, because the metal reflects the X-rays. Their esophagus is then checked to see how it functions as it processes the ingested material. This is known as a dynamic swallowing exercise.
A more preliminary refinement of this process is for the person to swallow the same food and then undergo X-rays after it has coated their gullet with the contrast metal. The muscles of the food passage can then be inspected to see if they are working normally or if the passage is obstructed.
The use of X-rays is dependent on the patient ingesting a barium solution or pill, or food impregnated with this metal. Barium is able to highlight muscle tissue, which ordinarily X-rays cannot. Once the patient has ingested the metal, the X-rays are taken. The doctor can then read the barium signature to determine what the issue in the gullet is, whether dysfunction or blockage.
In an endoscopy, the doctor uses a cable with a camera on its end to perform the internal examination. The camera transmits photographic images to a screen. Endoscopy is a very common procedure in modern medicine and is used to diagnose other problems too. The word is composed of two Greek terms, endo and scopy, meaning inside and view.
None of these techniques is extremely traumatic. Older adults are the more usual sufferers of dysphagia, but anyone who has been experiencing discomfort or impairment in swallowing should consult with their doctor as a matter of urgency.
About the Author:
Read about the swallow study for dysphagia through clinical resources. To see links for patients of cancer and Parkinson disease, click on this link http://www.swallowstudy.com.
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