Abstract
In this study 16 patients with severe spastic cerebral palsy with an age range between 6 months and 16 years were examined using videofluoroscopy and a modified barium meal. All patients were slow, inefficient eaters. Silent aspiration was demonstrated in five cases. The latter five patients demonstrated a delayed swallow reflex but there was little correlation between aspiration and the oral phase of deglutition. Our data confirms the impression that early diagnostic workup including videofluoroscopy is helpful in managing the feeding difficulties in these children, and may prevent chronic aspiration and malnutrition.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Mirrett PL, et al (1994) Dysphagia in severe spastic cerebral palsy. Dysphagia 9:174–179
Chen MY, et al (1992) Clinical and videofluoroscopic evaluation of swallowing in 41 patients with neurological disease. Gastrointest Radiol 17:95–98
Griggs CA, Jones PM, Lee RE (1989) Videofluoroscopic investigation of feeding disorders in children with multiple handicap. Dev Med Child Neurol 31:303–308
Stalling VA, Charney EB, Davies JC, Cronk CE (1993) Nutrition-related growth failure of children with quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 35:126–138
Haberfellner H, Rosiwall B (1977) Treatment of oral sensorimotor disorders in cerebral palsied children: preliminary report. Dev Med Child Neurol 19:350–352
Suleiman OH. Development of a method to calculate organ doses for the upper gastrointestinal fluoroscopic examination (Doctoral thesis). he John Hopkins University, Baltimore
Jones B, Donner MW (1990) Normal and abnormal swallowing. In: Imaging in diagnosis and therapy. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wright, R.E.R., Wright, E.R. & Carson, C.A. Videofluoroscopic assessment in children with severe cerebral palsy presenting with dysphagia. Pediatr Radiol 26, 720–722 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01383388
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01383388