Featuring Barry A. Hendin, MD 

MSAA’s Chief Medical Officer 

Question: How can MS affect the ability to swallow and what treatments are available?

Answer: Dysphagia refers to any problem swallowing. This issue is common in a number of neurological disorders, including MS. It’s estimated that approximately one-third of people living with MS will experience difficulty swallowing or dysphagia at some point in their lifetime.

Dysphagia in MS is due to lesions or injury to the brainstem or cerebellum, or in the higher centers that affect those areas. This can cause weakness, altered sensation, or incoordination of the muscles involved in chewing and swallowing. Symptoms can include coughing or choking on food, or increased difficulty in manipulating and handling solids and liquids within the mouth and while entering the throat. Sometimes people will complain that food feels stuck in their throat or feel that they can’t clear solids and liquids easily.

An assessment for dysphagia should begin with a careful history regarding difficulty swallowing. When necessary, further evaluation can be performed by a speech and language pathologist. This would be a more detailed history, and sometimes involves a procedure called a modified barium swallow to outline the individual’s process of swallowing as shown radiographically.

Treatments can then be directed to the particular problem that one may be having with swallowing. Often the treatment is behavioral, including improved dining posture, smaller food portions, and slower, more careful eating. Rarely, when swallowing difficulties are so severe that sufficient nutrition can’t be guaranteed, surgical techniques can be considered.

More information on swallowing disorders can be found on MSAA’s website here.

Barry A. Hendin, MD, is a neurologist and Director of the Arizona Integrated Neurology MS Center. He is also Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at Banner University Medical Center and Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of Arizona Medical School.

MSAA’s Ask the Expert series received a Merit Award from the 26th Annual Digital Health Awards!