Abstract
Introduction Surgical repair of congenital heart disease in the first years of life compromises
the coordination of the suction, breathing, and swallowing functions.
Objective To describe the alterations in swallowing found in infants with congenital heart
defect during their hospitalization.
Methods Prospective, cross-sectional study in a reference hospital for heart disease. The
sample consisted of 19 postsurgical patients who underwent an evaluation of swallowing.
The infants included were younger than 7 months and had a diagnosis of congenital
heart defect and suspected swallowing difficulties.
Results Of the 19 infants with congenital heart defect, the median age was 3.2 months. A
significant association was found between suction rhythm and dysphagia (p = 0.036) and between oral-motor oral feeding readiness and dysphagia (p = 0.014).
Conclusions The data suggest that dysphagia often occurs after surgery in infants with congenital
heart defect. Infants with congenital heart defect had very similar behavior to preterm
infants in terms of oral feeding readiness.
Keywords
congenital heart - defects - infant - deglutition disorders - respiratory aspiration
- speech - language and hearing sciences