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Dysphagia in a Cancer Patient

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Abstract

Hypercalcemia causes gastrointestinal symptoms such as anorexia, constipation, and pancreatitis but has not been commonly associated with dysphagia. In patients with cancer, dysphagia has been attributed to local tumor invasion or as a complication from surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, there are cases of dysphagia in setting of malignancy with rapid resolution of symptoms after treatment of hypercalcemia. Excess calcium reduces neuromuscular excitability and leads to hypotonicity of the muscle, which could be mechanism by which dysphagia occurs. There are not enough data about dysphagia in association with hypercalcemia from benign etiologies, which could be due to less pronounced hypercalcemia.

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Funding

The authors did not receive any funding for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA

    Jaimy Villavicencio Kim

  2. Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA

    Corey Saraceni & Haleh Vaziri

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Connecticut, 121 Shadow Lane, West Hartford, CT, 06110, USA

    Jaimy Villavicencio Kim

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  1. Jaimy Villavicencio Kim
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  2. Corey Saraceni
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  3. Haleh Vaziri
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Correspondence to Jaimy Villavicencio Kim.

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Villavicencio Kim, J., Saraceni, C. & Vaziri, H. Dysphagia in a Cancer Patient. Dysphagia 37, 1–3 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-020-10227-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-020-10227-7

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