Effects of stroke‐induced damage to swallow‐related areas in the brain on swallowing mechanics of elderly patients

Abstract

Damage to swallow-related areas may reduce their sensitivity to incoming signals from the oral cavity thereby impairing preparations to generate motor command signals and compromising their ability to send sufficient voluntary descending command signals to activate the swallowing central pattern generator located in the medulla. This deficiency becomes more evident with successive swallows and manifests as impaired swallowing mechanics.