Oral dysphagia. An unique symptom for a wide spectrum of diseases

Dysphagia, defined as a difficulty in swallowing of fluids and/or solid foods, is one of the most frequent symptoms of esophageal, gastrointestinal, ear, nose and throat diseases. As such, it poses a diagnostic challenge and an interdisciplinary clinical problem. Of particular importance in diagnosis is to distinguish between esophageal and oropharyngeal dysphagia. Oropharyn-geal dysphagia is often associated with neuromuscular disorders and is treated with rehabilitative protocols, while esophageal dysphagia may be due to anatomical alterations and esophageal motility difficulties. While the former can be adequately treated with endoscopic or surgical therapy, the latter are currently trea…

Demographic and behavioural profiles of patients with common oral mucosal lesions by a homogeneity analysis

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the main oral mucosal lesions (OMLs) within a hospital base and to provide an anamnestic, diagnostic model based on homogeneity analysis of some variables. Methods: The demographic and behavioural data (i.e. gender, age, smoking status, alcohol consumption and therapeutic drug usage) of 1753 patients with at least one OML were considered. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and multivariate tests of the simultaneous marginal homogeneity hypothesis (SMH) were used to analyse the evidence of any differences between the demographic and behavioural profiles relating to OMLs diagnoses. Statistical significance of P<0.05 was chosen. Results: With r…

Severe ulceration of the tongue: first symptom of a psychiatric disorder