Is the inability to swallow defined the same as difficulty to swallow?

Answer 1

Not necessarily. Both the inability to swallow and difficulty swallowing are called dysphagia in medical terminology. dys- means difficult, bad, abnormal, painful. -phagia refers to eating or swallowing. Sometimes the dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing can be bad enough to prevent someone from swallowing without aspirating(choking). That would appropriately be called dysphagia even though this makes for a virtual inability to swallow, but that is due to danger of choking, not due to actual emotional or physical inability to do the act of swallowing. But there can be situations with a total actual inability to swallow due to obstruction, emotional block, injury, congenital deformity, or surgical procedures that prevent swallowing such as radical surgery for cancer. These may be referred to as either dysphagia, or more correctly, as aphagia. a- means absent, without, not, away In this example, difficulty swallowing would not be called aphagia. But the inability to swallow might appropriately be called dysphagia.