dysphagia
Meaning of dysphagia: Dysphagia is difficulty swallowing food, liquid, or saliva, ranging from mild discomfort to an inability to swallow safely.
Definition of dysphagia
Dysphagia is difficulty swallowing, which can involve trouble moving food, liquid, or saliva from the mouth to the stomach. It may arise from a problem in the mouth or throat that affects the initial swallow, known as oropharyngeal dysphagia, or from a problem farther down the esophagus that affects how material passes toward the stomach, known as esophageal dysphagia.
Possible causes include structural narrowing, muscle or nerve conditions that affect coordination of swallowing, inflammation, and growths that press on or involve the swallowing pathway. Dysphagia can range from mild discomfort with certain foods to significant difficulty that affects nutrition and hydration.
Because swallowing involves coordinated muscle and nerve activity across several structures, evaluating dysphagia often draws on history, physical examination, and specialized swallowing studies to identify where and why the process is disrupted.
How dysphagia is built
- dys- Prefix · Greek difficult, painful, disordered
- -phagia, -phagy Suffix · Greek eating, swallowing
A medical term is read from its ending backwards: the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root. See all 223 word parts.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The patient reported dysphagia with solid foods that had gradually worsened over several weeks.
Good to know
Dysphagia refers to difficulty swallowing itself and is distinct from odynophagia, which is pain with swallowing, although the two can occur together.
Word origin
Where “dysphagia” comes from
Formed from dys- (Greek, meaning "difficult") and -phagia, from Greek phagein, meaning "to eat."