Case Reports Protracted Postpoliomyelitis Dysphagia Managed with Enteral Feeding

ABSTRACT. A 52-year-old female with postbulbar poliomy-elitis dysphagia and malnutrition was treated with enteral nutritional support resulting in improved deglutition. Subse-quent cricopharyngeal myotomy resulted in a return to normal swallowing and maintenance of a normal nutritional status. Postpoliomyelitis dysphagia is reviewed. Poliomyelitis has become an uncommon disease in the United States since the advent of mass immunization. Bulbar poliomyelitis is one of the most serious forms of poliomyelitis and can lead to the complications of dys-phagia for food and aspiration of nasopharyngeal secre-tions. During the early phases of the polio epidemic, individuals with bulbar disease often succumbed to the illness, but with the use of respirators, antibiotics, and tracheostomy, the survival rate increased. Nutritiona