When food or a liquid enters the lungs, it is called aspiration pneumonia. A common cause might come from inhaling stomach acid or vomit or if food, liquid or spit from your mouth accidentally gets into the airway and travels down into the lungs....
Gastroesophageal reflux occurs in infants when the stomach contents back up into the esophagus instead of working their way through the digestive system. The National Institutes of Health points out that a small amount of gastroesophageal reflux,...
A piece of tissue called the epiglottis normally prevents food from entering your lungs by covering your trachea, or windpipe, as you're swallowing. From time to time, you may accidentally take food into your trachea while you're eating. If you're...
Your doctor's instructions for the night before surgery serve an important purpose: They are designed to keep you safe. The reason you cannot eat after midnight on the night before surgery is to keep your stomach empty -- to prevent your stomach...
According to the National Institutes of Health, novo-ranitidine, also known as Zantac belongs to a class of medications called H2 acid blockers. Novo-ranitidine is used to treat acid related stomach disorders such as stomach ulcers, duodenal...
Pneumonia is an acute infection of the lungs. According to the World Health Organization, it is the leading cause of death in children worldwide, causing more fatalities than measles, AIDS and malaria combined. The symptoms of pneumonia in...
Anesthesia and the stress of surgery can cause complications that are sometimes life-threatening. Patients are monitored during and after surgery for early signs of complications related to immobility or to the procedure. Signs of shortness of...
When an airway in the lungs becomes blocked and causes such alarming symptoms as breathlessness, wheezing, chest tightness and coughing, immediate medical intervention is necessary. A blockage significantly reduces the lungs' ability to provide...
Difficulty swallowing, medically defined as dysphagia, means it takes longer and requires more effort to move what you eat and drink from your mouth to your stomach. Swallowing problems may arise when you eat too fast and/or don't chew your food...
Chronic coughing that occurs suddenly after eating can by caused by several different factors. Although the cough may appear to be only a minor nuisance, any persistent cough, especially one that worsens over time, should be examined by a doctor...
Handling a choking episode in a child requires prompt action to prevent brain damage or death. Children are at particular risk of choking because they may put objects into their mouths or fail to chew food completely before swallowing....
The American Heart Association reports that as of 2006, over 6 million people had survived a stroke. A stroke occurs when the supply of blood to the brain becomes disrupted or reduced, depriving the brain of oxygen. The cells of the brain begin to...
When food enters the lungs instead of the esophagus, it affects breathing and can cause choking and other problems. The structures inside the mouth and neck each have a distinct role in breathing, speaking and swallowing. The swallowing mechanism...
Part of the aftermath of a stroke can include difficulty swallowing enough food to maintain adequate nutrition. A dysphagia evaluation, performed after a stroke, assesses the ability to swallow liquids and solids in varying levels of consistency....
Dysphagia is defined as difficulty swallowing. There are four phases of swallowing include the oral preparatory, oral, pharyngeal and esophageal. Depending on which phase of swallowing is affected, your doctor may prescribe one of the three...
Dysphagia is condition defined by difficulty swallowing or the inability to swallow. Dysphagia can be caused by a number of medical conditions, including stroke, cancer, and neurological disorders. Because proper swallowing is a critical aspect...
During surgical anesthesia, respiratory reflexes such as gag reflexes that normally prevent vomited food or gastric juices from entering the lungs are suppressed. Food, stomach juices, blood or saliva can enter the trachea, the tube that leads to...
Pneumonia is a respiratory illness that can occur in one or both lungs. It may be infectious or inflammatory. Medical experts often categorize pneumonia depending on whether the patient contracted it in a health care facility or elsewhere. The...
Enteral tube feedings may be necessary for patients who have a working gastrointestinal system but are unable or unwilling to ingest food orally. Medical conditions in which enteral feedings may be useful include severe anorexia, liver failure,...
According to the National Institutes of Health, Prilosec is a proton pump inhibitor. Also known as or omeprazole, Prilosec is mainly used in infants to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, a condition in which backward flow of acid from the...
Aspiration is a condition in which foreign substances, such as food, secretions from the mouth or a foreign object, enters the lungs. For most people, the cough reflex prevents this from occurring. Many of us have experienced this if we take a sip...
During a seizure, the brain's nerve cells, also called neurons, send out sudden and uncontrolled signals, and the brain needs over 200 times the normal amount of oxygen. There are several complications--due to a lack of oxygen to the brain,...
Asthma and pneumonia both impair lung functioning; however, each condition has a separate course and cause. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute indicates that asthma is a chronic lung disease that leads to inflammation and narrowing of the...
A stroke occurs when the brain's supply of blood is cut off, depriving the tissues of oxygen. A stroke is an emergency because brain cells begin to die within minutes of losing their oxygen supply, according to MayoClinic.com. An embolic stroke...
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizure activity. The seizures may range from brief periods of altered consciousness to lengthy episodes of convulsions. Most cases of epilepsy respond well to medication. Epilepsy,...
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) labels total knee replacements as one of the most significant orthopaedic advances of the last century. That's because successful knee replacement surgeries can alleviate debilitating pain and...
Tonsillectomy is the surgical removal of the tonsils, two lymphatic tissues found in the throat. Tonsils protect the body from infection but often become problematic, especially for children. A recurrent sore throat, ear infection or difficulty...
The ability to swallow is an activity of daily living that most people probably take for granted. However, swallowing and coughing are complex and use some 50 or more pairs of muscles and many nerves to complete this most necessary function....
Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, can have devastating health implications, including malnutrition, dehydration and aspiration pneumonia. Aspiration occurs when food or fluids pass through the vocal folds and enter the airways into lungs. If...