Publication:

Endoscopic evaluation of dysphagia incorporating eating assessment tool-10 and dysphagia outcome and severity scales-a cross-sectional study

Background Dysphagia is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A careful history may determine the cause of dysphagia in over 80% of patients. The intention of my study is to assess the patients of dysphagia using fiberoptic nasopharyngolaryngoscope and to study their clinicopathological profile and assess the severity using dysphagia outcome and severity scale (DOSS) scale and eating assessment tool (EAT)-10 score.

Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study of patients with symptoms of dysphagia who presented to the ENT department were included. The study was conducted from January 2018 to June 2019. A total of 120 patients were taken for the study.

Results Dysphagia was more common among males than females and more prevalent in the age group of 61-70 years. Patients with tracheostomy had an EAT-10 score above 6 and DOSS level 5 and below. EAT-10 score was helpful to assess dysphagia with the majority of patients having a score of 6 to 10 and the scores correlated with DOSS levels. Indirect laryngoscopy (IDL) was helpful to diagnose in 68.5% of cases and fibre optic laryngoscopy (FOL) was helpful in diagnosis in 75.8% of cases. Malignancy was the most common cause of dysphagia (25%) followed by laryngopharyngeal reflux (24.2%). Mortality rate in the present study was 15 %Conclusions: Dysphagia is a complex symptom, the description of which varies from person to person and is common among the elderly population and in those with co-morbidities and needs to be evaluated early to diagnose and treat the underlying cause.