Choking in patients with neurological disorders and role of drug-induced dysphagia

Abstract

Choking is a type of asphyxia due to the internal obstruction of airways by foreign material, quite always food. Most choking deaths are accidental and occur so quickly that may mimic a heart attack. This scenario is also known as "Cafè coronary syndrome" or "bolus death". At autopsy, pieces of under-chewed food are commonly lodged at, above, or in the tracheal space adjacent to the laryngeal inlet. In these fatal events mechanisms other than asphyxia can be also involved, such as a vasovagal episode (by stimulation of the autonomic nerve plexus of the laryngeal inlet) or swallowing impairment. Swallowing is a complex, semi-automatic process that can be affected by various disorders (i.e. dementia, Parkinson, neurological injuries, etc.), senility and external factors causing oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD). Among these factors, several drugs have been also associated with impaired swallowing, including drugs acting on the CNS like antipsychotics and antiepileptics. Three cases of witnessed bolus deaths are reported. All victims were affected by neurological defects and took medications acting on CNS. In all cases, at autopsy pieces of food were found distributed from the laryngeal inlet along the main axis of the trachea up to the large bronchi over the bifurcation. Additional autopsy findings were represented by facial congestion and cyanosis, subepicardial petechiae and pulmonary emphysema.

Keywords: Cafè coronary syndrome; Choking; Drug-induced dysphagia.