Pharyngeal swallowing phase and chronic cough

Introduction: The act of swallowing depends on a complex and dynamic process which uses common structures to the act of breathing; respiratory problems can cause swallowing difficulties. Aim: To assess the swallowing pharyngeal phase in patients with chronic cough. Method: Retrospective study with 15 patients of both genders, patients with chronic cough and risk factors for aspiration defined by the pneumologic diagnosis. The patients were submitted to anamnesis on complaints related to swallowing, chewing and breathing, or related to food and to videofluoroscopic examination. Results: It was observed that 33.3% had normal and functional swallowing, being the last one of most prevalence. The mild dysphagia was observed in 20% of the patients, the mild to moderate dysphagia in 6.7% of them. In relation to the Rosenbek scale, 73.3% of patients presented degree 1, 6.7% presented degrees 2 and 3, and 13.3% presented degree 8. The most found pathology was the chronic cough with 40%, followed by asthma with 20%; 69.2% of patients presented stasis and of these, five used protection maneuvers, of these, seven were effective and only three were used in the presence of stasis. The most used maneuver was the multiple swallowing, being effective in 100%. Conclusion: There are peculiarities in the patients' swallowing with chronic cough that, although not presenting complaints relating to swallowing, it presents an important aspiration risk due to the presence of changes in breathing pattern that can intervene in the coordination between breathing and swallowing, which is essential to protect the lower airway...

Avaliaçäo do tempo de escovaçäo na antissepsia pré-operatória das mäos e antebraços das equipes cirúrgicas / Evaluation of time of scrubbing in the pre-operative antisepsis of hands and forearms of surgical teams

No presente estudo, os autores avaliaram o efeito do tempo de escovaçäo na preparaçäo das equipes cirúrgicas. Para tanto, foram incluídos 85 membros de equipes cirúrgicas em 48 atos operatórios realizados no Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria (HUSM). Foi coletado material da mäo e antebraço de cada participante e incubado em meio de cultura, tioglicolato (DIFICO). Concluiu-se que houve melhor eficácia com o aumento do tempo de escovaçäo. A melhor performance foi observada no grupo que escovou por mais de 5 minutos, quando comparado com aquele que escovou entre 1 e 3 minutos e 3 e 5 minutos