Abstract NS2: Effect of Volume-Viscosity Swallow Test (V-VST) in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients With Dysphagia: A Hospital-Based Case-Control Study

Abstract

Background: The dysphagia screening in acute ischemic stroke plays an important role in patients with risk of dysphagia. The aim of this hospital-based case-control study is to explore if V-VST, as a new nurse-driven dysphagia screening tool for AIS patients, might help to reduce the rate of post-stroke pneumonia and early withdraw of feeding tube. Methods: 1598 acute ischemic stroke patients were enrolled in this study. The standard protocol in AIS patients were assessed by WST (before intervention and plus with V-VST after intervention). The V-VST assessment were be trained in two senior nurses and all AIS patients were assessed by V-VST during July 1and Dec 30 th , 2017. Among 299 AIS patients with suspected, all clinical data were analyzed. The comparison of their rate of pneumonia in hospital and withdraw rate of tubefeeding before discharge were performed between patients post-intervention (January 1, 2018-June 30, 2019)and those admitted before the intervention (January 1, 2016-June 30, 2017). Results: The baseline characteristics of the pre- and post- intervention AIS groups were similar in age, gender, NIHSS. The implementation of V-VST have a statistically significant reducing the risk of pneumonia with an adjusted HR (0.60, 95% CI 0.43-0.84, P=0.003). Additionally, follow-up V-VST were likely to be associated the withdraw rate of tube-feeding at discharge (29/168 vs 38/131 P=0.016).There is also a trend of length of tube-feeding decreasing (8.32±12.27 vs 6.84±8.61 P=0.241). Conclusion: In our study, the V-VST is a feasible bedside tool. The implemental might be associated with the reduction of post-stroke pneumonia. Therefore, it meets the requirements of a clinical screening test for dysphagia in acute stroke patients at bedside. Large prospective interventional study is needed to confirm our findings. V-VST: Volume-viscosity Swallow Test WST: Water Swallow Test AIS: Acute Ischemic Stroke HR: hazard ratio