The authors evaluated 86 patients of abnormal sensation in the throat, who had visited to the department of otolaryngology in Pusan Paik Hospital from June 1989 to May 1990. We studied clinically by use of questionnaire and autonomic function test by measuring the coefficient of variation of R-R intervals in ECG. The following result were obtained : 1) In sex distribution, females were predominated over males by 62 to 24. 2) At the time of diagnoisis, majority of the male patients were in the 4th decades of life, and the female patients were in the 4th & 6th decades of life. 3) The most frequent chief complaints were foreigne body sensation in the throat(63%). 4) The sensation were strongly felt during empty swallowing in 52% of the patient and during eating in 7 % of the patients. 5) The most frequent site of the sensation was in the middle of the neck(74%). 6) The provocative factors were nervousness(44%), upper respiratory tract inflammation(26%) and unknown causes(24%). 7) Accompanying physical complaints were neuromuscular(44%), general(26%), cardiovascular(18%) and gastrointestinal(13%) problems. 8) In the psychological analyses by the Kyusyu university medical index, there were high frequencies in the obsessive tendency(23%), the hypochondriasis(20%) and the neurosthenic tendency(18%). 9) At rest, the coefficient of variation was normal in 46 patients(56%), below normal in 28 patients(33%) and above normal in 10 patients(12%).
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