EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF DYSPHAGIA AFTER TOTAL ESOPHAGECTOMY

Abstract

Swallowing is a complex process involving numerous musculoskeletal structures that are under the neurological control of various cranial nerves. The neuromuscular coordination necessary for normal swallowing can be affected by multiple pathological states, including tumor diseases such as esophageal cancer, whose treatment, esophagectomy, continues to be the therapy of choice, which presents a high frequency of complications and morbidity and mortality. in the patients. The literature has described complications in patients who have received surgical treatment, mentioning anastomotic leaks, stenosis due to fibrosis in the healing process, radiation-induced inflammation, endotracheal tube trauma, adherence of the gastric tube to the trachea, mechanical denervation, and inflammation of the trachea. nerve pathways such as the pneumogastric nerve, the pharyngeal plexus and/or the cervical loops. The mentioned post-surgical complications contribute to the functional deficit of swallowing.