[Videofluoroscopic study of deglutition in patients with multiple sclerosis]

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease that affects the I/II motor neurons of the CNS and its symptoms include oropharyngeal dysphagia. The onset and course of this dysphagia significantly conditions the progression of the disease. The present study evaluates the incidence on deglutition and type of alterations in a sampling of 10 multiple sclerosis patients of which 4 showed clinical signs of dysphagia. The results, obtained by combining quantitative (clinical severity) and qualitative (functional alterations) parameters showed that 9 of the 10 patients (90%) presented radiological abnormalities in the progression of the bolus. The conclusion drawn is that the high prevalence of dysphagia in multiple sclerosis, even if not always manifest clinically, justifies drawing up a standard protocol for radiological evaluation and clinical follow-up in order to screen those patients at greater risk of pulmonary complications and delay them as long as possible.