Cineradiography of the pharyngeal stage of deglutition in 250 patients with dysphagia

In order to define the diagnostic outcome of cineradiographic examination of the swallowing act (pharyngeal stage) in patients with dysphagia, 250 such patients were consecutively examined at filmspeeds of 50 and 100 frames per second. Synchronous and symmetrical swallowing was observed in 20% of the patients while 80% exhibited functional abnormalities i.e., epiglottic dysfunction (33%), misdirected swallowing and aspiration (41%), cricopharyngeal dysfunction (22%), paresis of the pharyngeal constrictor musculature (10%), webs (15%) and Zenker diverticula (2%). These results clearly indicate that cineradiography can frequently disclose functional abnormalities in the act of swallowing among patients with dysphagia and explain the symptoms of these patients. Cineradiography is clearly superior to conventional single-film technique in revealing functional abnormalities in the act of swallowing.