The Relationship of Vallecular Residue to Oral Involvement, Reduced Hyoid Elevation, and Epiglottic Function

The purpose of this investigation was to identify certain variables that may result in vallecular residue after swallowing. The relationship between vallecular residue and oral-stage dysphagia, reduced hyoid elevation, and movement of the epiglottis was assessed in 330 patients referred to the speech pathology section for evaluation of oropharyngeal swallowing function. Patients with vallecular residue were more likely to have oral involvement or deviant epiglottic function, characterized by an absence of epiglottic inversion or incomplete inversion, than patients without vallecular residue. Although the primary focus of the study was between vallecular residue and the other select variables, the interrelationships among the three other variables were also studied. Patients with deviant epiglottic function were more likely to have oral involvement, reduced hyoid elevation, or vallecular residue than patients without deviant epiglottic function and patients with reduced hyoid elevation were more likely to have oral involvement than those with normal hyoid elevation. Multivariate analysis revealed that the relationship between oral involvement and deviant epiglottic function, present in the bivariate analysis, was not significant when controlling for other relationships in the model. The relationship between primary medical diagnostic category and the presence/absence of vallecular residue as well as the other dichotomous variables varied between and within diagnostic categories.

KEY WORDS: swallowing, dysphagia, epiglottis, valleculae, hyoid elevation

Submitted on August 14, 1990
Accepted on October 29, 1991

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