[Dysphagia] The importance of esophageal considerations

[LJBove at aol.com (LJBove@aol.com)]

In a message dated 06-09-15 08:10:43 EDT, eripley@yahoo.com writes:

<< it must be recognized that whoever is first in line to examine the patient 
has to be the one to consider that there may be a life threatening issue at 
hand, one that I have encountered far too often.   >>
Irene is right. I had a patient referred to me by ENT for a voice evaluation, 
complaining of intermittent hoarseness. When I called the patient to schedule 
an evaluation, she told me she also had some non-specific intermittent 
swallowing problems. After taking a detailed history over the phone, I had enough 
concerns to call the ENT and ask to do an MBS study instead of a voice eval. As 
part of the MBS, I asked the radiologist to scan down the esophagus. She had a 
large area of constriction, with irregular borders, due to esophgeal cancer. 
The voice problems were due to recurrent laryngeal nerve compression. She was 
referred for surgery and did well for a few years following. Lydia-Jean Bove, 
MS, CCC-SP