Coordination of breathing and swallowing: effects of bolus
consistency and presentation in normal adults.
Preiksaitis, Harold G., and Catherine A. Mills.
Department of Medicine and the Lawson Research Institute, St.
Joseph's Health Centre of London, The University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada
APStracts 3:0274A, 1996.
Respiration and swallowing were recorded simultaneously by inductance
plethysmography, submental electromyography and a throat microphone
in ten normal subjects during eating and drinking tasks that included
single boluses of varying volume (5-20 mL) and consistency presented
by syringe and cup, a 200 mL drink taken with and without the use of
a straw, and a sandwich meal. Swallows were associated with a brief
swallow apnea (SA) lasting 1s. Swallow effects on the duration or
tidal volume of the pre-swallow, post-swallow and swallow-associated
breathing cycles (pre-SwBC, post-SwBC and SwBC) varied depending on
bolus characteristics and presentation. Expiration preceding and
following the swallow apnea was the preferred pattern with all
drinking and eating tasks. Inspiration followed swallow apnea in
&LT5% of single bolus swallows, but this pattern increased
significantly with a 200 mL drink administered by cup or by straw,
and during a sandwich meal (23.8 +/- 5.2%, 27.0 +/- 2.6% and 16..3
+/- 2.7% respectively). Hence, the swallow-associated breathing
pattern seen with single bolus swallows may not reflect that
associated with regular eating and drinking behavior. This finding
implies that the risk of aspiration may be reduced by teaching
patients prone to aspiration to simplify the complex behavior of
eating and drinking to a series of single bolus swallows.
Received 5 September 1995; accepted in final form 29 May 1996.
APS Manuscript Number A963-5.
Article publication pending Journal of Applied Physiology.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 28 June 96