Preparation for a Medical Career

Physiology of Swallowing: Protection of the Airway

“…27 This finding was later confirmed in sub-sequent radiographic studies. 55,60 Ardran and Kemp 61 explained that Stuart and McKormick's early observations showing lack of epiglottic descent were based on a patient unlikely to have had normal swallowing function; therefore, their observations could not have been characteristic of the normal swallow mechanism. Following the development of cinefluorography for the study of swallowing dynamics, the utility of the epiglottis in airway protection was emphasized.…”