Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis causes dysphagia in older patients

A research team from Turkey reported a case of an elderly patient who suffered from dysphagia and weight loss and the diagnostic stages. The patient was diagnosed as diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis. The researchers suggest that diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis is an idiopathic disease characterized by the ossification of anterior longitudinal ligament of vertebra and some of the extraspinal ligaments.

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a common but often unrecognized systemic disorder observed mainly in elderly people. All papers related to DISH demonstrate a consistent and marked increase of the disease with advancing age. Various local structural lesions such as oropharyngeal tumors, vascular pathologies, retropharyngeal abscesses, and anterior cervical osteophytes may lead to mechanical esophageal dysphagia.

A research article to be published on April 7, 2010 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. A research team led by Dr. Berrin Karadag reported a case of a geriatric patient with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis.

This study concluded that DISH should be considered an important, although rare, cause of dysphagia among older adults. However, it should not be accepted as the cause of dysphagia until all other causes have been ruled out.