Neurogenic Dysphagia

This book is a clinical manual that covers the whole spectrum of swallowing and its disorders. It starts with physiology of swallowing, pathophysiology of disordered deglutition, diagnostic methods (clinical and instrumental) and ends with an in-depth’s and up-to-date presentation of current treatment options. The clinically most relevant topics of dysphagia management on the stroke unit and the intensive care unit are dealt with in separate chapters. Also the closely intertwined issue of nutritional management is specifically addressed. Most importantly, the book covers all obligatory topics of the Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES)-curriculum, an educational initiative that started in Germany in 2014 and is currently being extended to other European and non-European countries. The book is richly illustrated and an online video section provides a number of typical patient cases. FEES is probably the most commonly chosen method for the objective assessment of swallowing and its disorders. It is used in stroke units, intensive care facilities, geriatric wards but also in rehabilitation clinics and within dedicated outpatient services. This book on neurogenic dysphagia therefore addresses a wide range of different medical disciplines, such as neurologists, geriatricians, intensive care physicians, rehabilitation physicians, gastroenterologists, otolaryngologists, phoniatrists and also speech-language pathologists.

About the Author

Tobias Warnecke is Professor of Neurology at the department of Neurology, University of Muenster (Director: Prof. Dr. H. S. Wiendl), head of the section for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders. Dr. Warnecke acts in several Guideline committees dealing with problems related to neurologically ill patients (Parkinson’s disease and atypical Parkinsonism, feeding and nutrition in clinical neurology, diagnosis and therapy of stroke-related dysphagia, FEES in neurology) of the German Society of Neurology, the German Stroke Society and the German Society for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement disorders. He is member of several German and international Societies as well, and is author of peer-reviewed articles, letters and case histories, reviews, guideline publications, 2 books and 6 book chapters. Dr. Warnecke has also a peer-review activity for international journals such as Movement Disorders, Stroke, Neurology, JNNP, Acta Neuropathologica, Cerebrovascular Diseases, Parkinsonism andrelated Disorders, Dysphagia.

Rainer Dziewas is a Professor of Neurology at the university hospital Muenster, Germany, where he is the head of the stroke unit and the neurological intensive care unit. Rainer Dziewas is a Fellow of the European Stroke Organization (ESO), board member of the European Society for Swallowing Disorders (ESSD) and vice-chairman of the German Dysphagia Society. He holds visiting professorships at the Fujita Health University, Nagoya, Japan, the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and the Sun-Yat Sen University, Guangzhou, China. He is a member of national and international guideline-committees and author of several peer-reviewed articles, reviews and books. He has significantly contributed to the development of the German FEES-curriculum and the ESSD-FEES accreditation program.

Dr. Susan Langmore is Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Boston University School of Medicine. She was formerly Clinical Professor, Speech, Language, Hearing Sciences.  Over the years, she has held a full clinical case load in addition to teaching at Boston University.  She currently is conducting research in several areas related to dysphagia and is based out of California.  She is best known for developing the FEES procedure and she has taughtmany clinicians how to become proficient in using this procedure. She is also well known for her research in aspiration pneumonia. Recently, she completed a clinical trial with head/neck cancer patients. She has been awarded Fellow of ASHA and Honors of the Association.  She is on the Editorial Board of the journal Dysphagia .  This year, Dr Langmore is President of the Dysphagia Research Society.