Combined NMES,FEES and Traditional Swallowing Rehabilitation in the Treatment of Stroke-related Dysphagia

Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Stroke

Treatments: Procedure: the combination group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01731847

VGHKS96-079

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators aimed to evaluate effects of combined NMES, FEES and traditional swallowing rehabilitation in stroke patients with moderate-to-severe dysphagia.

Full description

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES)and Fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) are both promising approaches to enhance swallowing recovery for dysphagic patients. However, there is no literature on the effectiveness of combined application of these modalities in the treatment of patients with poststroke dysphagia. The purpose of this study was to prospectively investigate whether combined NMES, FEES and traditional swallowing rehabilitation can improve swallowing functions in patients with moderate-to-severe dysphagia after stroke.

Enrollment: 32 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 20 to 85 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• age between 20-85 years old
• first-time stroke confirmed by computed tomography or magnetic resonance image
• dysphagia > 3 weeks, with preservation of the swallowing reflex
• currently on a restricted diet, with a Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS) score of 5 or less
• Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)> 21
• no obvious mental depression, receptive aphasia or cognitive impairment

Exclusion criteria

• progressive cerebrovascular disease or other neurologic diseases
• unstable cardiopulmonary status, serious psychologic disorder or epilepsy;
• tumors, extensive surgery or radiotherapy of the head and neck region
• cardiac pacemakers
• swallowing therapy within 2 months before participation

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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32 participants in 1 patient group

The combination group

Experimental group

Description:

Patients received 12 sessions of NMES for 1 hour /day, 5 days/week within a period of 2-3 weeks. FEES was done before and after NMES for evaluation and guiding therapy. All patients subsequently received 12 sessions of traditional swallowing rehabilitation (50 minutes/day, 3 days/week) for 4 weeks.

Treatment:

Procedure: the combination group