A clinical study of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on patients with dysphagia after stroke / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the types of dysphagia after stroke (DAS) calling for neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and to explore the probable mechanisms of the treatment. Methods Sixty patients with DAS diagnosed by videofluoroscopie swallowing study (VFSS) were enrolled in this study. They were randomly divided into a treatment group (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30). VFSS, misaspiration, laryngeal elevation, food residues and food intake scores of the two groups were evaluated and compared before and after 10 days of treat-ment. After that, both groups were divided into mild, moderate and severe sub-groups separately according to their VFSS scores. The VFSS scores of the six subgroups were then compared. Results There was no significant differ-ence between the two groups with regard to VFSS scores and misaspiration, laryngeal elevation, food residues, food intake scores before treatment. After 10 days of treatment, VFSS scores in the treatment group were significantly high-er than in the control group, and miaspiration and laryngeal elevation scores were significantly lower. There were no significant difference between the two groups in terms of food residues and food intake scores. The VFSS scores of pa-tients with moderate DAS in the treatment group were significantly higher than those in the control group, but there was no significant difference between patients with mild and moderate DAS in the two groups. Conclusions NMES could be an effective treatment for DAS. NMES treatment is most effective for moderate DAS, but has no advantage in treating the mild cases. NMES may improve laryngeal elevation and decrease misaspiration.