Pharyngeal residue across the lifespan: a first look at what's normal.

Objectives: Without good evidence, post-swallow pharyngeal residue is considered abnormal. Our aim was to document residue from normal food and fluid boluses in young and elderly healthy populations.

Design: Prospective, single-blind assessment of residue severity from Fibreoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing.

Setting: Tertiary specialist ENT teaching hospital.

Participants: Fifty-one healthy participants; twenty-one aged <40 and thirty aged 65+. Each swallowed six representative boluses.

Outcomes: Two teams independently rated pharyngeal residue severity at 11 anatomical sites.

Results: The mean residue scores were less than 1 when averaged across all boluses and anatomic sites. Differences due to age were slight.

Conclusions: Our preliminary data indicate that substantial pharyngeal residue is not common in young or elderly, and probably indicates disordered swallowing.