On the Physiology of Normal Swallowing as Revealed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Real Time

Figure 5

Temporal pattern of physiological events during normal swallowing. VCT: velo-pharyngeal closure, ERT: epiglottic retroflexion, GCT: glottal closure, EOT: esophageal opening, OOT: oro-velar opening (start time defined as reference), OTT: oro-velar transit, PDT: pharyngeal delay, and PTT: pharyngeal transit. Solid lines indicate durations with mean values in brackets (10 subjects), while circles represent respective start (solid) and end times (open). Arrows refer to maximal durations.