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Dysphagia Cheat Sheet by

Nutrition care process for dysphagia

What

The reduced ability to swallow, caused by neurol­ogical or structural damage, leading to an interf­erence with the efficiany that food and liquid move from the mouth to the stomach.

Causes

Mechanical
Neurol­ogical
Psycho­logical
Oesoph­ageal stricture
Stroke
Globus Hystericus
Oesoph­ageal spasm
Parkin­son's
Severe anxiety
Cancers in the head, neck and oesoph­ageal areas
Motor neurone disease
Severe depression
Cancer treatments including radiot­her­aphy, surgery in the neck and head area
Head injury
Pharyngeal pouch
Multiple sclerosis
Injury or surgery to the tongue, lips, mouth or jaw
Cerebral palsy
Severe infections of the mouth or throat (oral thrush or ulcers)
Dementia
Postural problems (severe kyphosis)
Huntin­gtons disease
 
Drug induced (psych­otropic drugs)

Diagnosis

Xray
Dynamic swallowing study - OT
Endoscopy
Fiber-­optic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES)
Oesoph­ageal muscle test
Imaging scans

Conseq­uences

Choking
Malnut­rition
Dehydr­ation
Weight loss
Aspiration pneumonia
 

Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms
Pain while swallowing
Not being able to swallow
Feeling as though food is stuck in the throat or chest or behind the breastbone
Drooling
Hoarseness
Food coming back up
Frequent heartburn
Food and stomach acid backing up into the throat
Weight loss
Coughing or gagging when swallowing

Nutrition Related Treatment

Texture modifi­cation of food and liquid.
HPHE
Avoiding hard, crunchy or stringy foods.
monitoring the position of PT while they are eating
smaller more frequent meals
Safe swallowing (small bites, chew thorou­ghly)
Encourage consistent fluid intake
Promote oral hygiene
Fortif­ication of foods
Betwee­n-meal snacks
It is important to first determine the safest feeding route for your PT. For example, an oral feeding route may not be safe or adequate, so you may need to consider Enteral nutrition (EN), and a specific site (NG, PEG etc) or Parenteral nutrition (PN).
 

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