The following symptoms and complaints may occur together with dysphagia:
Leading symptom
- Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) – if this occurs with a feeling of pressure/pain in the thorax (chest) and/or abdomen (stomach), this is known as odynophagia (pain on swallowing).
Associated symptoms
- “Drooling”: drooling, leakage of saliva (sialorrhea) or food pulp from the mouth.
- Nasal regurgitation (reflux of ingested food/fluid through the nose).
- Tracheobronchial aspiration (inhalation of a foreign body into the lungs) → coughing, shortness of breath
- Hoarseness
- Clearing throat
- Regurgitation: choking out food
- Hiccups (singultus)
- Wheezing breathing sound
The Dysphagia Working Group of the German Geriatrics Society (DGG) has presented its Dysphagia Screening Tool Geriatrics (DSTG): Dysphagia Screening Tool Geriatrics: DSTGFurthermore, training material on the use of the Dysphagia Screening Tool Geriatrics is available: training on the use of the Dysphagia Screening Tool Geriatrics.
Warning signs (red flags)
- Anamnestic information
- Stuck eating, weight loss, and progressive symptoms → think of: Tumor diseaseThe high-risk group includes esp. patients over 50 years who smoke or drink excessively.
- Supraclavicular lymph node enlargement (Virchow’s gland) → think of: Gastric carcinoma (stomach cancer)
- Retrosternal (“behind the sternum“) pain and/or intermittent (“intermittent”) dysphagia → think of: Reflux disease (caused by frequent reflux of acidic gastric juice and other gastric contents into the esophagus (food pipe)).