Swallowing function in the eldaly

我们对65岁以上有吞咽困难或咽部异常感觉的老年患者进行了改良的测压法和改良的咽食管X线透视法的研究，结果如下：我们将12名接受测压的患者分为两组; 6名患有神经肌肉疾病的患者和6名无疾病的患者。两组吞咽压力传导曲线形态及传导速度无明显差异。将54例咽食管X线摄片的患者分为3组，第1组18例为神经肌肉疾病患者，第2组20例为无吞咽困难患者，第3组16例为其他原因所致的吞咽困难患者。咽部、喉部过早血流阳性率分别为15例（81%）、8例（40%）、8例（50%）。第2组20例无吞咽困难的患者，在X线透视检查中未发现吞咽相关解剖结构的共同病理性运动，本研究对上述几点进行了探讨，以阐明吞咽反射启动障碍是老年人吞咽困难的主要原因。我们得到了老年人吞咽反射延迟发生率增加的事实，但未能得到这种现象的确切原因。

We have got the following results through the investigations of a revised manometry and a revised pharyngo-esophageal fluorography applied to the patients with dysphagia or abnormal sensations in the throat who are 65 years old or older. We divided the 12 patients who underwent the manometry into two groups ; 6 patients with neuromuscular disease and 6 without disease. But there seems no difference between two groups as to both the patterns of conduction curves of swallowing pressure and also the conduction velocity of the swallowing pressure. And we also divided the 54 patients who underwent the pharyngo-esophageal fluorograpgy into 3 groups ; group 1 of 18 patients with neuromuscular disease, group 2 of 20 patients without any dysphagic disease, and group 3 of 16 patients with dysphagia of miscellaneous causes. The percentages of positive fluoroscopic findings of premature flow into the pharynx and the larynx are 15 cases (81%), 8 cases (40%), and 8 cases (50%) respectively. We could not find any common pathological movements of anatomical components involved in swallowing in the series of fluoroscopic examination of group 2 of 20 patients without any dysphagic disease.In this study, several points mentioned above were investigated in order to clarify the disorder of swallowing reflex initiation which are thought to be the main cause of dysphagia in the elderly. We got the facts that the incidence of delayd swallowing reflex initiation goes up in elder generations but failed to get the precise cause of that phenomena.