PrintSpeech and swallowing difficulties are common among patients with other neural and sensory conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease or stroke. Because of this connection, the diagnosis and management of swallowing disorders is an important component of many care areas within the Neural and Sensory Science program grouping.
Swallowing disorders can be quite complex, involving the function of many different nerves and muscles. Treatment can include medication, the development of new swallowing techniques or the use of special feeding tubes.
UHN’s Swallowing Care Area
One of the first programs of its kind to be established in Canada, our Swallowing care area is the only program in the Greater Toronto area providing a comprehensive assessment of the entire swallowing mechanism. We take a multidisciplinary approach to assessing, managing and diagnosing swallowing disorders. Our team includes expertise from gastroenterology, speech-language pathology and clinical nutrition.
The Swallowing Clinic sees up to 300 new patients per year from University Health Network patients as well as from other institutions in Toronto and around Ontario. Consultation services are available to both inpatients and outpatients.
Clinical research in the Swallowing program is supported by a well-established basic science research program dealing with the brain-gut axis and the neuromuscular control of swallowing and esophageal function in health and disease. In a current research project, members of the Swallowing program are studying a new dysphagia screening test for patients with stroke. The purpose of this screening tool is to predict the presence of dysphagia in stroke patients across their continuum of care in a simple and efficient manner.
