Swallowing Changes in Cervical Spine Patients With Postoperative Dysphagia

Background: In many cases, the manometric examination is not feasible because of the pharyngeal sinusitis or pharyngeal torsion. In addition, although previous conventional manometry was used to estimate pharyngeal swallowing, the bolus flow transmission was still not evaluated, which still depended on the videofluoscopic swallowing studies. High resolution impedance manometry could help us to measure the bolus flow according to the impedance changes. However, the comparison between two approach methods of postoperative recovery of swallowing function is still inconclusive.

Objectives: The objective of the current study was to examine the correlation between high-resolution manometric and videofluoroscopic measurements of the swallowing function.

Patients and methods: Consecutive patients who will fulfill the criteria of postoperative cervical spine surgery patients aged >= 20 will be enrolled and the dysphagia questionnaire score (EAT-10) was higher than 3, including 3. After got the inform consent, these patients receive the swallowing function by videofluroscopy and HRIM.

Expected result: The investigator will evaluate the swallowing changes of these postoperative cervical spine patients with suspected dysphagia. The investigator expected that the highly correlation between the HRIM and VFSS.