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Table 2 Differential diagnosis of neurogenic dysphagia in relation to additional neurological symptoms (according to [65])

From: Diagnosis and treatment of neurogenic dysphagia – S1 guideline of the German Society of Neurology

Additional neurological symptoms

Differential diagnoses

Acute CNS symptoms

cerebral infarctions/bleeding

relapse of multiple sclerosis

Slowly progressive CNS symptoms

brain tumors

chronic progressive multiple sclerosis

Brainstem symptoms

brainstem infarctions/bleeding

multiple sclerosis

listeria rhombencephalitis

paraneoplastic brainstem encephalitis

Neurocognitive disorders

Alzheimer’s disease

vascular dementia

frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Lewy body dementia

progressive supranuclear palsy

Extrapyramidal motor symptoms

Parkinson’s disease

Huntington’s disease

Dystonias

Neuroleptic-induced dysphagia

Wilson’s disease

Progressive bulbar paralysis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Pseudobulbar paralysis

Primary lateral sclerosis

Arnold–Chiari malformation, type I

Kennedy’s disease

Post-polio syndrome

IgLON5 bulbar paralysis

Cerebellar symptoms

Multiple sclerosis

Hereditary ataxias

Niemann–Pick disease, type C

Subacute cerebellar degeneration

Cranial nerve palsies

Skull base tumors

Meningeosis neoplastica

Basal meningitis

Subtypes of Guillain–Barré syndrome

Ptosis and/or ocular symptoms

Subtypes of Guillain–Barré syndrome

Myasthenia gravis

Lambert–Eaton myasthenic syndrome

Botulism

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy

Mitochondrial myopathies

Oculopharyngodistal myopathy

Neuropathy

Guillain–Barré syndrome

Critical illness neuropathy

Myopathy

Myositis

Myotonic dystrophies

Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy

Mitochondrial myopathies

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

Oculopharyngodistal myopathy

Myotonic syndrome

Myotonic dystrophies

Trismus and/or risus sardonicus

Tetanus