ABSTRACT
Dysphagia can be defined as a disorder of swallowing either solids or liquids. Dysphagia is thought to influence up to 20 per cent of people older than 50, greater numbers of patients admitted to hospitals and even greater numbers admitted to nursing homes. Impairment of swallowing decreases quality of life and can cause significant morbidity and mortality. Dysphagia may arise from the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx or along the length of the oesophagus. It is not to be confused with other associated symptoms such as odynophagia (pain on swallowing) or globus sensation (a sensation in the throat, commonly of a ‘lump’). Dysphonia is a disorder of voice, dysarthria a disorder of speech and dysphasia one of language. It is important to understand these definitions to tease out a collection of frequently overlapping
presenting symptoms, of which dysphagia is commonly the most important to the patient.
