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Swallowing Center
Specialized medical services
It is known that the ability to eat and swallow gradually deteriorates with age, even in healthy individuals. It is common for patients with illnesses, especially those with cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and post-operative patients after various major surgeries, to experience further deterioration of their swallowing functions due to the loss of strength caused by their illnesses, and to have to delay or change their treatment plans for their original illnesses due to weight loss or aspiration pneumonia.
In order to cope with such problems in the swallowing function, i.e., dysphagia, it is necessary to provide diagnosis, evaluation, guidance, and rehabilitation for patients in collaboration with many different professions. With the opening of the center, we expect that seamless medical treatment will be realized, enabling us to provide higher quality swallowing treatment than before, as well as to improve the treatment outcome of the original disease.
Features
Swallowing Center provides examination, training, and advice on eating and swallowing, mainly for hospitalized patients. A multidisciplinary team of physicians, dentists, speech-language pathologists, and nurses are involved in the swallowing clinic.
First of all, it is essential to evaluate the patient's swallowing function, so please request a consultation at the Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Outpatient Clinic. After evaluation by endoscopic swallowing study, we will provide advice and training for each patient and request rehabilitation to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine if necessary. Patient information will be shared among many professions at the swallowing conference and appropriate policies will be proposed.
For outpatient care, patients who wish to undergo surgery to improve swallowing function or prevent aspiration, or patients who are suspected to have worsened feeding and swallowing function due to their primary disease during treatment at our hospital, should first be referred to the Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Outpatient Department.
Considerations in referring your patients to Swallowing Center
Inpatients: available Monday-Friday weekdays. Requests should be made via inpatient referral in the Otolaryngology Outpatient Department. Patients in poor general condition may not be evaluated (e.g., level of consciousness JCS=3 or higher, oxygen requirement 6L or higher, temperature 38°C or higher). In such cases, please refer the patient again after his/her condition improves.
Outpatients: Please make an appointment with Dr. Hosokawa (Monday and Wednesday) and Dr. Nozawa (Tuesday) via the Patient Comprehensive Support Center when making a referral. Please note that we do not accept follow-ups for patients with feeding and swallowing disorders who are being treated at other hospitals. In addition, we do not provide outpatient rehabilitation services.
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Information for Outpatients
Consultation times
| First visit | 8:30 am to 11:00 am |
|---|---|
| Revisit | 8:30 am to 11:30 am |
| Revisit with appointment | 8:30 am to 3:00 pm |
※First-time visitors to Osaka University Hospital must have a referral from a physician.
Outpatient consultation days
Monday to Friday
Non-consultation days
Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays New Year’s Holidays: Dec. 29 to Jan. 3