Screening in Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is a rare myopathic disease that results in progressive degeneration of the oral and pharyngeal muscular, resulting in severe dysphagia and dysarthria. OPMD is considered a rare disease; therefore, limited research is available on the natural progression of the disease or the utility of biomarkers to identify swallowing impairment. The aim of this study is: 1. To identify accurate, reliable and non-invasive clinical markers of swallowing impairment 2. To determine the discriminate ability of these markers to identify impairments in swallow safety and swallowing efficiency.