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Background We aimed to define normative values for novel pressure topography metrics for high-resolution pharyngeal-esophageal manofluorography. The effects of age, gender and bolus properties were examined. Methods Concurrent high-resolution manometry (HRM) and videofluoroscopy data were collected from 22 younger (aged 21–40) and 22 older (aged 60–80) healthy subjects. Pressure topography was analyzed by correlating pressure domains with videofluoroscopic events. Nine pressure topography metrics of the pharyngeal and proximal esophageal swallow were extracted; four of these were also compared with previously obtained esophageal HRM studies to assess the effects of catheter diameter. Key Results Older individuals exhibited more vigorous contractility in the pharynx than did younger subjects with all bolus types, but the greatest values for both groups were with effortful swallow and on that measure the age groups were similar. Upper esophageal sphincter (UES) intrabolus pressure during sphincter opening was also greater in the older subjects. Some gender differences were observed, particularly related to proximal esophageal contractile vigor. Bolus consistency had no consistent effect. Studies using the larger catheter diameter resulted in significantly greater contractile vigor in the UES and proximal esophagus. Conclusions and Inferences Older adults exhibited more vigorous pharyngeal contractions than young adults, albeit within a similar range of capacity, perhaps reflecting a compensatory response to other age-related physiological changes. Greater UES intrabolus pressures observed during bolus transit in the older group likely reflect reduced UES compliance with age. Normative data on novel HRM metrics collected in this study can serve as a reference for future clinical studies.

Introduction: Multiple system atrophy (MSA) has detrimental effects on swallowing function. The swallowing function of patients with MSA has not been systematically characterized and the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of dysphagia remain poorly understood.Objectives: To investigate the characteristics of swallow function in MSA using high-resolution manofluorography (HRMF).Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of twenty-five MSA patients who underwent HRMF from 2016 to 2017. HRMF was utilized on patients with only oral diet (Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS) >3). Pharyngoesophageal and proximal esophageal pressure profiles were evaluated and compared to established normative data. The frequency and characteristics of upper esophageal sphincter (UES) and proximal esophageal abnormalities during rest and swallow were calculated.Results: The ages of patient cohort in our study ranged from 48–81 years (median 65 years) with male predominance (68%). We observed a distinct abnormal deglutitive proximal esophageal contraction (ADPEC) in 14 (56% of patients), which appears to reflect a discoordinated response of the striated muscle esophagus. Deficient UES relaxation duration, impaired UES relaxation, hypertensive resting UES pressure and hypotensive resting UES pressure were detected in 8 patients (32%), 3 patients (12%), 1 patient (4%), and 11 patients (44%) respectively.Conclusions: In patients with MSA, abnormal UES resting pressure is common. A discoordinated proximal esophageal pressure response was identified and may be a pathognomonic manometry finding for MSA. These findings may serve as indications of early stage swallowing dysfunction in patients with MSA.

Objectives: Pill dysphagia is common and costly with a significant risk of pill retention, caustic injury, and poor medication compliance. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the validity and reliability of the PILL-5, a self-administered patient reported outcome measure (PROM) to quantify the degree of pill (tablet and capsule) dysphagia. The PILL-5 is a 5-item questionnaire with a maximum symptom score of 20. Methods: The PILL-5 was administered to 190 patients with dysphagia referred for videofluoroscopic esophagography (VFE). Construct validity was assessed by comparing PILL-5 composite scores to delayed barium tablet transit on VFE. Normative data was obtained by administering the instrument to a cohort of healthy community based volunteers. Internal consistency was assessed with the Cronbach alpha. Test/retest reliability was determined by administering the instrument to the same cohort of patients at two time points. Results: The mean PILL-5 was 5.6 (±4.9) for persons with dysphagia and 1.6 (±2.7) for healthy volunteers ( p < 0.001). The internal consistency of the instrument was high (Cronbach alpha = 0.85). The mean PILL-5 was 4.3 (±4.1) for patients with normal transit and 7.6 (±5.3) for patients with delayed barium tablet transit on esophagography, indicating excellent criterion based validity ( p < 0.001). Reproducibility was high with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.83 ( p < 0.001). Conclusions: Healthy individuals report some degree of swallowing difficulty with pills. Normative data suggest that a PILL-5 > 6 is abnormal (mean + 2 SD). The instrument demonstrated excellent criterion based validity and reliability. The PILL-5 is the first validated patient reported outcome measure for pill dysphagia.

NA Laryngoscope, 127:E148-E152, 2017.