Trinity welcomes interdisciplinary swallowing and voice experts

Posted on: 16 November 2016

Trinity’s Department of Clinical Speech and Language Studies recently welcomed international experts in speech and language therapy, dentistry, neurology, ear nose and throat (ENT) surgery and physiology for the Interdisciplinary Swallowing and Voice Conference.

The experts spoke about their dysphagia research with the aim of improving the detection, clinical evaluation and treatment of people with swallowing difficulties, both in Ireland and abroad. 

Assistant Professor in Clinical Speech and Language Studies at Trinity, Julie Regan, said: "The requests from delegates to make this an annual event following an excellent and informative conference demonstrate its success, and also highlight the national interest in improving evidence based dysphagia care."

"The large number of speakers from within Trinity at the conference also underlined the internal expertise in this area — and flagged the potential for developing further interdisciplinary research in the field."

Swallowing disorders involve difficulty moving food or liquids from the mouth to the oesophagus. These disorders are known medically as dysphagia and are included in the World Health Organization’s classification of diseases. Overall, 5% of the general population has dysphagia, but this percentage is much higher among the elderly and in people with conditions such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, dementia and head and neck cancer. 

Swallowing difficulties can have a major impact on the quality of life for those living with them — and for their carers — as they interfere with the routines of eating and drinking that are normally taken for granted. Dysphagia can also lead to serious choking episodes, recurrent pneumonias, malnutrition, and dehydration. 

Overall mortality rates range from 20% to 50% with rates as high as 80% reported in some groups.  From a healthcare perspective, swallowing difficulties are associated with increased hospital admissions, antibiotic cover, feeding tube insertions and prolonged inpatient stays.

Dysphagia is also associated with high cost for medical facilities. Despite its prevalence and the impact it has on so many aspects of daily life — as well as on health and wellbeing — dysphagia remains under-diagnosed and untreated in many medical centres worldwide. The treatment of swallowing difficulties is advancing internationally but high quality research is urgently required in this area.

Ireland’s only dysphagia research centre runs within Department of Clinical Speech and Language Studies in Trinity. The centre has seen over 60 postgraduate students carry out research in the area over the last 12 years.