Prolonged UES opening may be related to prolonged pharyngeal transition of the bolus and slower UES muscle contraction and hyolaryngeal excursion after stroke.

Timely hyolaryngeal excursion and laryngeal closure are essential for safe transfer of the bolus during the pharyngeal swallow. The temporal measures stage transition duration (STD) and laryngeal closure duration (LCD) represent these physiological events. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether small changes in bolus consistency and volume affect these temporal measures in poststroke patients who aspirate, poststroke patients who do not aspirate, and nonneurologically impaired control subjects. STD and LCD were obtained by frame-by-frame analysis of the videofluoroscopic examinations of 5 and 10 ml thin and nectar thick liquids. Using a three-way analysis of variance, STD was significantly different between the control group and the two poststroke groups; however there was no difference between the two stroke groups. There was no difference among the three groups on LCD. Bolus consistency and bolus volume had no effect. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

ObjectiveTo examine the effects of age, gender and bolus consistency in normal populations using the temporal measurement of Pharyngeal Transit Duration (PTD), which reflects the duration of bolus flow from the ramus of the mandible to the upper esophageal sphincter.Method40 normal and healthy subjects had Videofluoroscopic Swallowing Examinations (VFSEs) of 5 ml thin and nectar thick liquids, and puree consistencies. A slow motion and frame by frame analysis was performed. Three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to examine the main effect and interactions, and paired t-tests for the three consistency comparisons.ResultsOlder subjects had a significantly longer PTD than younger subjects (p<0.01). In addition, men had significantly shorter PTDs than women (p<0.01). Puree showed a significantly longer PTD than the other two consistencies, regardless of age and gender (p<0.05).ConclusionPTD is an indicative of motor weakness in pharyngeal swallowing secondary to aging. In addition, the results supported the assumption that there is a functional difference in pharyngeal swallowing between men and women. It is expected that the results of this study will be used for further investigation of patients with dysphagia.