Comparison of Dysphagia Between Infratentorial and Supratentorial Stroke Patients

OBJECTIVE: To compare dysphagia between infratentorial stroke patients and supratentorial stroke patients. METHODS: Subjects of this study were patients with post-stroke dysphagia (PSD) who were admitted to our medical institution between May 2014 and June 2017. We evaluated a total of 64 patients with PSD. A videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) was performed to determine dysphagia severity. We measured the following parameters: pharyngeal transit time (PTT), post-swallow pharyngeal remnant, Penetration Aspiration Scale (PAS) scores, and Functional Dysphagia Scale (FDS). We analyzed patient's results from VFSS performed at admission. All VFSS images were recorded using a camcorder running at 30 frames per second. An AutoCAD 2D screen was used to measure post-swallow pharyngeal remnant. RESULTS: In this study, PTT and FDS were similar (p>0.05) between infratentorial stroke patients and supratentorial stroke patients. However, there were significant differences in pharyngeal remnant and PAS scores between the two groups (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). CONCLUSION: Both pharyngeal remnant and PAS score registered higher levels from VFSS test for infratentorial stroke patients than those for supratentorial stroke patients. This suggests greater chances of problems occurring with swallowing, the major functions of pons. Thus, clinicians should pay particular attention to active dysphagia evaluation and treatment in PSD of infratentorial stroke patients.

Effect of Hyaluronic Acid Injection for a Dysphagia Patient Who Has Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis due to a Lateral Medullary Infarction: A Case Report / 대한연하장애학회지

This paper reports a case of a female patient aged 48 years diagnosed with a right lateral medullary infarction and dysphagia after the onset period. In a video fluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), significant manifestations were not observed in the oral phase, but during swallowing aspiration, a larger amount of post-swallowing residue were observed on the test of swallowing of semisolid and liquid. After the VFSS, a laryngoscopy was performed, which indicated paralysis and para-median fixation in the right vocal fold. In this case, swallowing with rightward head rotation was adopted as a compensation technique to reduce the aspiration caused by the para-median fixation of the right vocal fold, but it was not enough to improve the dysphagia in this case. To medialize the right vocal fold, hyaluronic acid was injected with laryngoscopic guidance. In a VFSS conducted after the injection, aspiration was not observed on the test of swallowing a semisolid and liquid. The injection of hyaluronic acid is less invasive than surgical operations, does not require general anesthesia, and makes the recovery time shorter. Therefore, it is expected to be an alternative to the treatment of unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) accompanied with dysphagia.

Efficacy of a 4-Week Swallowing Rehabilitation Program Combined With Pyriform Sinus Ballooning in Patients With Post-stroke Dysphagia

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of a 4-week swallowing rehabilitation program combined with pyriform sinus ballooning in patients with post-stroke dysphagia (PSD). METHODS: We evaluated a total of 30 patients (n=30) with PSD who were admitted to our medical institution between May of 2014 and October of 2016. These patients were randomly assigned to either the trial group (n=15; a 20-minute conventional rehabilitation followed by a 10-minute pyriform sinus ballooning) or the control group (n=15; a 30-minute conventional rehabilitation). In these patients, the efficacy outcome measures were pharyngeal remnant, the pharyngeal transit time, the Penetration Aspiration Scale (PAS) scores and the Videofluoroscopic Dysphagia Scale (VDS) scores. We compared the differences in efficacy outcome measures at 4 weeks from baseline between the two groups. RESULTS: There were significant changes in the pharyngeal remnant, the pharyngeal transit time, the PAS scores and the VDS scores at 4 weeks from baseline between the two groups (p < 0.0001, p=0.0001, p < 0.0001, and p=0.0048, respectively). There were no treatment-emergent adverse events in our series. CONCLUSION: Our 4-week rehabilitation program combined with pyriform sinus ballooning is an effective and safe modality in patients with PSD. However, further large-scale, long-term, and multi-center studies are needed to corroborate our results.