One of the basic needs in life is eating. Swallowing problem is caused by a lot of diseases whose common complication is aspiration pneumonia. Physical examination, such as Modified Water Swallowing test (MWST), can detect aspiration but not silent aspiration. The videoendoscope (VE)/videofluoroscope (VF) are able to find out all aspirations but it is more complicated. Therefore this paper aims to study the capability of MWST to detect all aspirations.

The demographic data, swallowing physical examination, MWST and videoendoscope (VE)/videofluoroscope (VF) test were recorded. Normal MWST scores 4 and 5. Abnormal MWST scores between 1 to 3. Aspiration with chocking or wet voice and silent aspiration were reported in percentage. Chi² test was used to detect the different between normal and abnormal MWST.

There were 60 patients who accessed the dysphagia clinic, MWST was used in 55 patients and VE/VF were done in 40 patients. There were only 36 patients who had done both MWST and VE/VF. From 22 abnormal MWST patients, 6 patients (27%) had aspiration with choking or wet voice and 2 patients (9%) had silent aspiration from VE/VF. From 14 normal MWST patients, 3 patients (21%) had silent aspiration. Therefore, the MWST can detect aspiration 36%. Moreover, the MWST showed no significantly different between normal and abnormal group (P-value 0.34).

The MWST detected aspiration at 36% which was quite low. Further study with a large number of patients or other screening tests should be done.