Training of Eating After a Stroke in a Patient with Dysphagia of Pharyngeal Type

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Dysphagia is a common disability after a stroke. This paper presents the diagnosing, training and surgical treatment of a patient with dysphagia of pharyngeal–oesophageal type after a brain stem infarction. Before the training started the patient had not been able to swallow for 18 months. He was nourished through a Witzel fistula. During his first stay in hospital training was concerned with the physical phase of swallowing. A myotomy of the cricopharyngeal muscle was performed during his second stay in hospital, and after this surgery the patient trained to eat normal food. The third and fourth times he stayed in hospital the psychological and social aspects of eating were focused upon. The patient became able to eat normal food together with others and the Witzel fistula was removed.