[Videofluoroscopic studies of the swallowing process in children with cerebral palsy]

The swallowing problems of cerebral palsied children are clinically evaluated by means of subjective criteria. Little research has been done to analyse these problems objectively and scientifically. The aim of this study was to analyse the swallowing patterns of cerebral palsied children in two age groups by means of videofluorography. Ten cerebral palsied children between the ages of four and thirteen years were selected as subjects. During the investigation they were asked to swallow a liquid and certain aspects of the oral preparatory, oral and pharyngeal phases of swallowing were analysed. The results of the study indicated that swallowing problems do occur in cerebral palsied children, mainly during the oral phase, and in some cases take on the form of inadequate contact between the tongue and palate and poor control of the bolus. The group of younger children had more swallowing problems than the older group. In the former group the type of cerebral palsy did not seem to play any role in the swallowing problems which occurred while in the older group there were indications that the type of cerebral palsy could possibly play a role. The results of the study indicate that videofluorography can be implemented effectively to scientifically evaluate the swallowing problems of cerebral palsied children.