Dear Doctor: Why do the elderly often have a hard time swallowing, and sometimes experience a feeling that food is stuck in their throats? I heard there’s a procedure to stretch the throat. Does it ...

A patient recently told me they’ve been having some problems swallowing lately. What can cause this? Swallowing is a pretty complex body function. It starts in the oral phase, when food is moistened ...

Effective treatment of motor-based oropharyngeal dysphagia requires accurate diagnosis of the swallow impairment. The effectiveness of many treatments can be evaluated during the diagnostic procedure.

What is Difficulty in Swallowing or Lump in Throat Symptom? The sensation of difficulty in swallowing (medically called dysphagia) in the absence of any apparent physical abnormality is often commonly ...

Esophageal diverticula can be categorized into various types. A true diverticulum contains all layers of the wall, whereas a false diverticulum represents herniation of the mucosa and submucosa ...

Dysphagia occurs in more than 50 percent of patients with Parkinson's disease. 1 Although all the phases of swallowing can be involved, dysphagia due to hyperactivity of the upper esophageal sphincter ...

Difficulty with swallowing or dysphagia is a problem, which if left untreated, could cause malnutrition and seriously affect the health of the patient. Dysphagia is a condition where a person ...

A 73-year-old woman described a 2-year history of solid foods “getting stuck” once or twice per week. The sensation was not progressive, and she denied heartburn, regurgitation, weight loss, fever, ...

This patient's symptoms may be due to improper evaluation before surgery (ie, wrong diagnosis) or to a failure of that surgery (ie, poor treatment). Therefore, this case raises 3 important questions: ...

Dr Reza Shaker is Professor of Medicine, Radiology, and Otolaryngology, Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Director of the Digestive Disease Center at the Medical College of ...