Edited by Adrienne L. Perlman and Konrad S. Schulze-Delrieu. 522 pp. San Diego, Calif., Singular Publishing Group, 1997. $75. ISBN 1-56593-621-3.
Our understanding of swallowing has been much like the descriptionof the elephant provided by the blind men. In our narrow, specialty-orientedarenas, the neurologist sees neuromuscular sequences, and theendoscopist sees structural anomalies; the dietitian opineson malnutrition, and the radiologist interprets shadows representingaspiration. The speech pathologist, gastroenterologist, internist,and surgeon also bring their tunneled views to the descriptionof deglutition. Although each professional holds a limited pieceof the truth, each has difficulty understanding the larger conceptual,methodologic, diagnostic, and therapeutic tools of other disciplines.Disorders of deglutition are summarily lumped into a diagnosticwastebasket called dysphagia . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Previous
