Technetium Tin Colloid test detecting symptomless dysphagia and ACE inhibitor prevented occurrence of aspiration pneumonia

Symptomless dysphagia and swallowing disorders play a very important role i n the pathogenesis of aspiration pneumonia. A videofluoroscopic examination and a simple two-step swallowing provocation test (STS-SPT) could be usefu l for detection of swallowing disorders in elderly patients with stroke, ho wever, there is no report on such a test for detection of symptomless dysph agia. We administered 1 ml Technetium Tin Colloid (99mTC) to the patient du ring sleep via a nasal catheter placed in the mouth. At 09:00 h the next da y, symptomless dysphagia was checked for by imaging. Improvement of the sym ptomless dysphagia was observed, and thus we could prevent the occurrence o f aspiration pneumonia. The 99mTC test was particularly useful in detecting symptomless dysphagia in elderly patients with stroke.