Maxfacts

Pharynx

Postoperative problems affecting the pharynx (upper part of the throat) include

• Difficulty in speaking. The upper part of the pharynx includes the soft palate. Changes in the shape and function of the soft palate can lead to air escaping during speech and swallowing. This gives a ‘nasal speech’ and can cause regurgitation of liquids through the nose.
• Difficulty in swallowing. Narrowing of or interference in the function of the pharynx leads to difficulties in the autonomic (not under voluntary control) part of swallowing. This is usually worse for liquids. Post-treatment problems from radiotherapy are (perhaps surprisingly as the organ is claimed to have been ‘preserved’) often much worse because they combine an absence of lubrication (from lack of saliva) with scarring, fibrosis and a profound loss of function, often with continuing atrophy (withering away) of the functional tissues.
• A sense of sticking in the throat may or may not have an anatomical basis. The commonest cause is actually functional – regurgitation of stomach and duodenal (from the small intestine) fluids to the upper pharynx, which has cells lining it which are not suited to exposure to these (acidic) fluids.