Introduction: Very little has been published about the disorders of deglutition in children with neurological impairment. The swallowing difficutties found by children with cerebral palsy are debilitating, particularly by the chronic pulmonary diseases and malnutrition. Study design: Prospective clinical no randomized. Objective: The purposes of this study were to (1) asses the use of nasoendoscopic examination of swallowing in chlidren and (2) describe the swallowing pharyngeal abnormalities. Material and method: The data reported here were extracted from a database on 134 pediatric swallow studies. All children had primary diagnosis of cerebral palsy, with swallowing abnormalities. The ages ranged from four months to 14 years. Results: The prevalence of each type of abnormality in the study group was: premature spillage (53,7%), tracheal aspiration in a liquid consistence (33,6%), tracheal aspiration in a pureed consistence (14,9%). There was regular agreement between the finds of premature spillage and tracheal aspiration. None of the children had complications during the exam. Conclusion: It was concluded that the nasoendoscopic evaluation of swallowing is a valid and valuable tool for evaluating pharyngeal dysphagia in children.
deglutition disorders; nasoendoscopic evaluation; cerebral palsy
