Neurológia pre prax 6/2014

Presented article deals with swallowing problems in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Dysphagia is very common symptom in patients with Parkinson’s disease, often resulting in poor quality of life – as an result of decreased food intake, malnutrition and bronchopneumonia. Dysphagia is overall pretty good curable disorder and it is necessary to keep it in mind, because it is often overlooked during neurological examination of a patient with Parkinson‘s disease. The article summarizes basic terminology related to dysphagia and describes physiological course of the swallowing act. The possibilities of instrumental examination of swallowing problems and other investigative techniques are shortly described. Problems with processing of the food in mouth (drooling, leaking, rocking) and aspirations, as well as silent aspiration, are being most frequently diagnosed. The main goal of the article is to describe typical symptoms of swallowing problems in Parkinson‘s disease and rehabilitation techniques used by nurses and speech language pathologist.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, dysphagia, aspiration, silent aspiration, aspiration pneumonia.