Table 2.

Comparing Oropharyngeal versus Esophageal Dysphagia [56–58]

	Oropharyngeal	Esophageal
Sensation	Difficult initiating a swallow	Food getting stuck
Timing	Within 1 s of swallowing	A few seconds after swallowing
Associated symptoms	Nasal regurgitation	Chest pain (retrosternal)
	Coughing	Odynophagia
	Drooling	Regurgitation (often after lying flat)
	Swallowing or breathing with gurgling
Past Medical History	Neurologic Conditions (Stroke, Parkinson's disease, ALS)	Connective Tissue Diseases (Systemic Sclerosis)
	Thyrotoxicosis	Autoimmune Conditions (Rheumatoid arthritis, SLE, Sjogren's syndrome)
	Head/Neck Surgery or Radiation	Complications of Chronic GERD (reflux esophagitis, peptic strictures, Barretťs esophagus/esophageal cancer, upper GI bleed)
	Prolonged Intubation

ALS Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, SLE Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, GERD Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, GI gastrointestinal