Swallowing News and Research

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Medical cannabis can improve appetite, ease chronic pain, say researchers

Though controversial, medical cannabis has been gaining ground as a valid therapy, offering relief to suffers of diseases such as cancer, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, ALS and more.

25 Jan 2013

Pediatric caustic ingestion injuries ‘much lower than believed’

The public health burden associated with children swallowing caustic chemicals is less than widely believed, US researchers report in the Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

2 Jan 2013

Clinical approach to swallowing of foreign bodies

It is a well known fact that children often swallow things. Children aged 6 months to 6 years are most often affected, but even adults sometimes end up with a foreign body stuck in their throats-and not only there.

29 Dec 2012

Make palliative care available to Parkinson's patients

A modified version of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System Scale is quick and effective at assessing patients with late-stage Parkinson's disease, and reveals that they have similar levels of symptoms as their peers with metastatic cancer, show study results from Canada.

28 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Pelosi says higher Medicare age 'doesn't work;' Marketplace's clout could lower seniors' drug costs

In the talks to avert the fiscal cliff, the idea of raising the Medicare age is central to the Republican proposal. There's just one critical problem: It doesn't work. It doesn't have public support. It's unfair. And it doesn't lower health expenditures. Such a proposal is a reflection of the broader Republican plan: an assault on the middle class, seniors -- and our future.

12 Dec 2012

Researchers discover first-ever mouse model of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis

Researchers at Western University have made a breakthrough that could lead to a better understanding of a common form of arthritis that, until now, has eluded scientists.

4 Dec 2012

Food hardness affects bolus size, swallowing

The smaller the particles in a food bolus, the harder the food is likely to be, report researchers in the Archives of Oral Biology.

22 Nov 2012

Abnormal sucking in preterm babies may indicate neurologic dysfunction

Preterm infants who demonstrate uncoordinated sucking patterns during feeding could have neurologic dysfunction, research suggests.

19 Nov 2012

Myasthenia gravis therapies: an interview with Professor Daniel Drachman

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease that produces weakness and fatiguability of muscles. It affects between 1 and 7 people per 10,000, according to the best statistics.

15 Nov 2012

Dysphagia is an easier pill to swallow with video technology

Video-assisted swallowing therapy significantly improves swallowing-associated outcomes in cognitively intact Parkinson’s disease patients, research suggests.

14 Nov 2012

State roundup: Examining health issues on state ballots

Sprinkled throughout ballots across the country are state initiatives that run the gamut from education to animal rights to marriage. And health care is well-represented, too. The National Conference of State Legislatures labels health a "key issue" in this cycle's roundup of state ballot questions.

6 Nov 2012

Study describes how Dbr1 gene halts toxic buildup of TDP-43-a protein

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered how modifying a gene halts the toxic buildup of a protein found in nerve cells. These findings point to a potential new tactic for treating a variety of neurodegenerative conditions, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease)-a fatal disease for which there is no cure.

29 Oct 2012

Advances in endoscopic technologies and techniques to be highlighted at ACG annual meeting

Advances in endoscopic technologies and techniques will be highlighted in clinical research presented at the 77th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in Las Vegas, NV.

23 Oct 2012

Liquid version of breast cancer drug Tamoxifen launched in the US

Breast Cancer Awareness Month raises visibility and research dollars to address a disease that in the United States claims nearly 40,000 lives annually and affects approximately 240,000 people who each year are newly diagnosed. While the month's activities are important in the fight against breast cancer, they are not designed to directly improve the day-to-day management of the disease.

22 Oct 2012

Translational Genomics Research Institute creates new center for rare childhood disorders

The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) today announced the creation of a new center that could have life changing effects on the lives of potentially thousands of children and their families.

6 Oct 2012

Nova Scotia's stroke strategy improves care for three rural health districts

Stroke patients in rural Nova Scotia receive better treatment and are less likely to end up in long-term care facilities than they were before the province's stroke strategy was rolled out in 2008, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

1 Oct 2012

Study looks at rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism that has no known treatment

Fewer than 100 people in the world are known to be affected by a movement disorder called rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism (RDP), but its symptoms are life-changing. Seemingly normal young people are suddenly and dramatically unable to control movement of their arms or legs and have trouble speaking or swallowing. A normal life is nearly impossible.

27 Sep 2012

Dexamethasone use during tonsillectomy not associated with excessive bleeding in children

Tonsillectomy is exceedingly common, with a reported increase in tonsillectomy rates in children younger than 15 years from 287,000 to 530,000 per year over the past decade. Although safe, adenotonsillectomy can result in significant complications, such as aspiration and bleeding. Complications are infrequent, but because tonsillectomy is so common, the absolute number of children experiencing tonsillectomy complications is formidable.

26 Sep 2012

HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer patients have more rapid and robust radiation-therapy response

UC Davis cancer researchers have discovered significant differences in radiation-therapy response among patients with oropharyngeal cancer depending on whether they carry the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted virus. The findings, published online today in The Laryngoscope Journal, could lead to more individualized radiation treatment regimens, which for many patients with HPV could be shorter and potentially less toxic.

26 Sep 2012

UH Case Medical Center offers per-oral endoscopic myotomy for achalasia

University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center is one of five institutions nationwide performing a novel scarless procedure that restores swallowing function in some patients with achalasia, a rare condition where the esophagus is unable to move food into the stomach.

25 Sep 2012