Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate swallowing changes in post-stroke patients with dysphagia after four weeks of suprahyoid muscles electrical stimulation. This was a prospective randomized study of early stage stroke patients with dysphagia. Electrical stimulation of suprahyoid muscles was given to a group of 54 patients (26 men, average age 70 years) for 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Standard orofacial rehabilitation without electrical stimulation was carried out on a control group of 54 patients (31 men, average age 69 years). Swallowing was evaluated at the beginning of the study and at the end, by videofluoroscopy - measuring the time for oral and pharyngeal phases. The difference in duration of oral transit time (OTT) after the therapy between the study group (average: 0.55 ± 0.01) and the control group (average: 0.29 ± 0.03) was statistically significant (P=0.01). Difference in duration of the pharyngeal transit time (PTT) after the therapy between the study group (average: 0.37 ± 0.02) and control group (average: 0.15 ± 0.02) was also statistically significant (P=0.009). Electrical stimulation of suprahyoid muscles significantly reduced the duration of the oral and pharyngeal phases: in the post-stroke patients with dysphagia used in this study. The result is improved swallowing. This is a recently recommended approach and your study confirms its efficacy.
Highlights
Post-stroke dysphagia manifests as a swallowing disorder
In total 108 post-stroke patients with dysphagia were evaluated after four weeks of complex orofacial rehabilitation (OFR)
We found statistically significant changes in the study group treated with both OFR and electrical stimulation (ES) of suprahyoid muscles
Summary
Post-stroke dysphagia manifests as a swallowing disorder. The incidence of dysphagia in patients after cerebrovascular accident is 20% - 65% (ref.[1,2]). Objective x-ray-based method - the videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) is used for evaluating a person's swallowing ability. During the VFSS video recordings of the swallowing act are evaluated and duration of different swallowing phases measured. The oral phase is determined by the so-called oral transit time (OTT). OTT is measured from the start of bolus passage from the mouth to the back of the tongue – entrance into the pharynx. Pharyngeal transit time (PTT) is measured from the time that the bolus enters the pharynx to the moment it reaches the cricopharyngeal area (beginning of the oesophagus) (ref.[4])
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