Swallowing in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: A Surface Electromyography Study

Abstract

Our goal was to study deglutition of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and normal controls (NC) using surface electromyography (sEMG). The study included 15 patients with idiopathic PD and 15 age-matched normal controls. Surface electromyography was collected over the suprahyoid muscle group. Conditions were the following: swallow at once 10 and 20ml of water and 5 and 10ml of yogurt of firm consistency, and freely drink 100ml of water. During swallowing, durations of sEMG were significantly longer in PD patients than in normal controls but no significant differences of amplitudes were found. Eighty percent of the PD patients and 20% of the NC needed more than one swallow to consume 20ml of water, while 70% of the PD patients and none of the NC needed more than one swallow to consume 5ml of yogurt. PD patients took significantly more time and needed significantly more swallows to drink 100ml of water than normal controls. We conclude that sEMG might be a simple and useful tool to study and monitor deglutition in PD patients.