Effects of superior laryngeal nerve lesion on the timing relationship between suck and pharyngeal swallow in an infant mammal model

Pediatric patients with a delayed pharyngeal swallow tend to aspirate more often compared with patients of similar age without a delay in the swallow (Lefton-Greif et al., 2006). Work in animals shows that stimulation of the superior laryngeal nerve initiates a swallow, and an injury to this nerve results in un-safe swallows. We hypothesized that after surgical transection of this nerve, the pharyngeal swallow would be delayed relative to the suck cycle.