Continued work in our ultrasound speech/swallow laboratory at the NIH, Dept. of Rehabilitation Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology has demonstrated the safety and efficacy of this noninvasive procedure in the study of a variety of conditions. We have studied the effects of normal aging on oropharyngeal swallowing and have demonstrated that normal aging alone does not cause significant impairment change in bolus passage or in swallowing physiology. Our ultrasound studies of swallowing have consistently demonstrated that the duration of the oropharyngeal swallow is longer in females over age 55 and that persons of either gender produce multiple tongue gestures to initiate a swallow. If true abnormality exists it is due to a neuromuscular condition, Sonies BC. Oropharyngeal Dysphagia in the Elderly, in (Ed) Baum, BJ, Clinics in Geriatric Medicine 1992; 8(3):569-77. We have developed a selection model for the various imaging techniques used to assess dysphagia and indicated which procedures are most appropriate for various components of the swallowing process, Sonies BC. Instrumental Procedures for Dysphagia Diagnosis, in (Ed) Sonies BC. Swallowing Disorders, Seminars in Speech and Language 1991; 12(3), 185-98. Ultrasound studies of swallowing in post polio myelitis patients have revealed a pattern of delays in the initiation and execution of swallowing regardless of patient awareness of difficulties and have demonstrated a pattern of worsening of symptoms.
