Causes of dysphagia in children

CNS: central nervous system.

* A diverse group of central and peripheral neurologic conditions, neuromuscular diseases, and myopathies are associated with poor coordination of swallowing and/or pharyngeal muscle weakness with dysphagia, including cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, demyelinating diseases, botulism, congenital myopathies, mitochondrial myopathies, myasthenia gravis, spinal muscular atrophy, and neurodegenerative diseases (eg, metachromatic leukodystrophy, Alexander disease, Krabbe disease, juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

¶ Extrinsic compression from mediastinal or chest tumors (eg, lymphoma) may rarely compromise esophageal motility. However, these tumors are most notable for causing respiratory distress, stridor, wheezing, and/or anxiety, especially when the patient is in a supine position, and for complicating airway management in patients with respiratory failure.