side effects of brain surgery due to stroke

my dad suffered a stroke 4 years ago.. and recently his throat is not feeling to well/difficulty in breathing, he just went for a medical examination and the doctor told him that it was usual for a brain surgery patients throat to reduce in size. Is this possible? and what other side effects should he be on the look out for?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hi.

Actually it is not necessarily true that the throat size should reduce after a brain surgery. It depends on the part of the brain on which the surgery was done. Due to loss of neurons of that brain which controls throat muscles, the muscles may undergo a slight degree of atrophy. But it is not to the extent that it will stop breathing. The diaphragm muscle may also get partially paralyzed, leading to breathing difficulty.

Regards