Effects of a tongue-holding maneuver during swallowing evaluated by high-resolution manometry
Presented at the the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Annual Meeting, September 21-24, 2008, Chicago, IL.
Received 9 November 2008; received in revised form 29 December 2008; accepted 15 January 2009. published online 17 March 2009.
Abstract
Objective
This study aimed to investigate the effects of a tongue-holding maneuver (THM) during swallowing using a novel high-resolution manometry (HRM) system.
Study Design
Case series with planned data collection.
Materials and Methods
Thirty-three asymptomatic Japanese adults were studied. A solid-state HRM assembly with 36 circumferential sensors spaced 1-cm apart was positioned to record pressures from the velopharynx to the upper esophagus at rest and during swallowing. The maximum values of the dry swallowing pressures at the velopharynx, mesohypopharynx, upper esophageal sphincter (UES), and distance from the nostril to each point of maximum values with and without the THM were measured.
Results
The distance from the nostril to the UES was statistically shorter when swallowing with the THM than without the THM (paired t test, P = 0.009). The maximum pressure at UES was greater when swallowing with the THM than without the THM, although there was no statistically significant difference (paired t test, P = 0.051). There was no difference in the pressures and the distance between swallowing with or without the THM at any other site.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that the THM may not have a potential to facilitate compensatory swallowing power when swallowing.
Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan
Corresponding author: Hiroshi Umeki, MD, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-7-1, Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan
No sponsorships or competing interests have been disclosed for this article.
ABSTRACT