Deglutition in patients with tracheostomy, nasogastric tubes, and orogastric tubes

Swallowing, in both normal and disordered populations, with regard to the presence of a tracheotomy tube, one-way tracheotomy tube speaking valve, nasogastric tube, and orogastric tube is described. Specific subject areas include swallowing and tracheotomy tube use across the age span from pediatric to adult populations and swallowing success when mechanical ventilation via tracheotomy is required. Additional topics include swallowing success dependent on tracheotomy tube cuff status, i.e., inflated versus deflated, tracheotomy tube occlusion status, i.e., occluded versus open, and the presence versus absence of a tracheotomy tube itself. Also, current data and a discussion on swallowing and one-way tracheotomy tube speaking valve use are addressed. Lastly, nasogastric and orogastric tubes, by traversing the same path as a food bolus, can potentially impact on swallowing and information regarding their effect on swallowing is presented.