Can patients determine the level of their dysphagia?

Table 3 Effect of level of obstructing lesion on patient ability to accurately localise the cause of their dysphagia

Level of obstructing lesion	Total (n)	Perceived as pharyngeal	Perceived as mid sternal	Perceived as lower sternal	Correct level identified
Upper	115	94	18	3	81.7%
Middle	130	39	64	27	49.2%
Lower	410	66	186	158	38.5%
Total	655	199	268	188	48.2%

Six hundred and fifty-five patients with a single obstructing oesophageal lesion with the test derived level shown in column 1 and the patient perceived level in columns 3-5. When a patient perceived their dysphagia correctly this is shown in bold. Some patients perceived more than one level of dysphagia (diffuse) but their data is not shown here for clarity (n = 71). Pearson χ² test gave P < 0.001.