Dysphagia is a common symptom in structural changes following ENT tumor diseases, in the context of neurological diseases and in old age. It leads to increased morbidity and mortality. In addition to inflammatory changes in the bronchopulmonary system, malnutrition, exsiccosis and psychological stress, it can lead to acute life-threatening consequences with respiratory distress and asphyxiation.
The risk of aspiration can be reduced by tilting the head forward when drinking. This change in posture, known as “chin down”, prevents the bolus from slipping prematurely into the pharyngo-laryngeal space, i.e. predeglutitive leaking. In the present study, a medical drinking aid was tested that automatically and consistently assumes the “chin down” head position and a cup can be drunk completely without head reclination.
In this study, a medical drinking aid was compared with a conventional cup. It was evaluated whether the medical drinking cup is suitable for therapeutic use in functional swallowing therapy and, if so, in which patient population. The study was prospectively randomized in a clinical setting using 44 test subjects. The subjects presented for clarification of dysphagia. They had structural (n=22) or neurogenic causes (n=22) for their dysphagia. The examination was performed by fiberoptic evaluation of the swallowing act (FEES).
The evaluation was carried out in a blinded study using FEES videos by two research assistants experienced in FEES assessment. Swallowing safety was rated using the Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS), and swallowing efficiency were assessed using the Yale Pharyngeal Residue Severity Rating (PRSR) Scale. For the statistical evaluation of the PAS and Yale PRSR Scale comparisons, a two-stage procedure was carried out with an examination of an interaction between modality and period in the first step and a subsequent comparison of the modalities. If a relevant interaction between modality and period was observed, only the results of the first period were compared in the sense of a two-arm parallel study using a t-test for unrelated samples.
The test subjects showed no difference between the two cups in terms of swallowing safety for the individual swallows. However, sequential swallows were significantly better with the medical drinking aid. The swallowing efficiency also showed better values for the residuals in the piriform sinus on both sides. The etiology of the dysphagia had no influence on the results.
Regardless of the cause of the swallowing disorder, the medical drinking aid examined was able to increase swallowing safety during successive swallows compared to the conventional cup.
The medical drinking aid can be used independently by patients without assistance. With the increasing prevalence of swallowing disorders and the simultaneous shortage of nursing staff and speech therapists in outpatient and clinical settings, the use of the medical drinking aid can potentially save resources in the healthcare system. The medical drinking aid may be particularly suitable for residents in nursing homes and hospitals because the prevalence of swallowing disorders is higher there and medical drinking aids can be used relatively easily. Follow-up studies should focus specifically on this population.
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Dysphagia is a common symptom in structural changes following ENT tumor diseases, in the context of neurological diseases and in old age. It leads to increased morbidity and mortality. In addition to inflammatory changes in the bronchopulmonary system, malnutrition, exsiccosis and psychological stress, it can lead to acute life-threatening consequences with respiratory distress and asphyxiation.
The risk of aspiration can be reduced by tilting the head forward when drinking. This change in post...
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