Active clinical trials for "Deglutition Disorders"

Purpose of the study is the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Sydney Swallow Questionnaire (SSQ-T), so that it would be used as an assessment tool for Turkish dysphagia patients. Despite being translated and validated in many languages, there is no validated Turkish version of SSQ to measure the severity of oropharyngeal dysphagia.

This study validates 3 well known dysphagia scores for dysphagia due to malignancies of the oesophagus and gastro-oesophageal junction and to the Swedish language.

The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between dysphagia symptom severity and quality of life of the patients with neurogenic dysphagia.

Dysphagia significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality in non-critically ill patients (as e.g. in stroke). Long term consequences of dysphagia include, among others, malnutrition, prolonged enteral tube feeding and increased risk of aspiration. In the present observational analysis, the investigators aim to elucidate the incidence and the impact of dysphagia on the clinical course of a mixed population of ICU patients post invasive mechanical ventilation.

The facial paralysis is a frequent disease causing important functionals swallowing dysfunctions. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the improvement of the swallowing disorders after surgery by lengthening temporalis myoplasty (LTM) in the facial paralysis. This prospective study has realised on the following of patients affected by facial paralysis treated by LTM. Self-administered questionnaires and clinics tests had realized to analyze three components oh the oral phase of the swallowing ( drooling, mastication and handicap). The evaluations was realized before the surgery and at 3 and 6 months after .

The investigators prospectively enrolled 64 early PD patients (less than 3 years after the first symptom) in order to prospectively assess the natural history of non-dopaminergic symptoms.

Ultrasound is widely applied in many fields of medicine but less commonly used in the evaluation of tongue movement and swallowing abnormality. Fuhrman RAW reported the usefulness of using ultrasound to evaluate poor tongue coordination [1]. Peng CL stated that ultrasound could provide excellent quantitative and qualitative bases of tongue movement during swallowing using cushion-scan technique [2]. Videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) is widely accepted as the gold standard of evaluating swallowing abnormality because it is able to evaluate the whole swallowing procedure without interference of pharyngeal contraction and foreign body sensation when swallowing is examined by using a fiber-optic laryngoscope. One of the most important information that VFSS can provide is the detection of subclinical silent aspiration. The decision and management of many patients with swallowing abnormalities are usually based on the VFSS findings [3]. As shown in many reports, our experiences showed that VFSS provided extremely important information of understanding the pathophysiologic change of dysphagia due to variable etiologies, such as in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer suffering from radiation therapy [4] and in patients with stroke [5]. Using the findings of VFSS, physicians and medical staffs can make important decision whether oral feeding should be given, which safety swallowing maneuver works and what is the appropriate choices of food consistency safe to dysphagic patients. The difficulties of VFSS are usually in the transportation of paraplegic and hemiplegic patients from ward to the examining chair. The frequency and examination duration of VFSS is usually limited for avoiding unnecessary radiation exposure. Hence, ultrasound provides a role in evaluating oral condition with the benefits of convenience of transportation and availability as well as no radiation exposure. Therefore, validation of the value of ultrasound for the oral swallowing with correlation of VFSS is important to test the clinical feasibility. Peng CL et al reported their experiences of using real-time ultrasound in the evaluation of intrinsic tongue movement [2, 6, 7]. The findings of submental ultrasound are quite different from the findings of VFSS which provides the surface information of the tongue in the swallowing of radiopaque barium sulfate bolus. Combined real-time B mode and M mode ultrasound, it was reported the potential of digital data analysis of oral phase swallowing. Kuhl V et al reported the usefulness of ultrasound in the evaluation of laryngeal elevation in patients with dysphagia [8]. They found significant decrease of laryngeal elevation in patients diagnosed as neurogenic dysphasia [8]. Casas et al successfully combined ultrasound examination and plethysmography to evaluate the swallowing condition of children with cerebral palsy [9]. The results of these studies explained the potential of ultrasound in oral swallowing and dynamic laryngeal movement. Our experiences of VFSS showed the usefulness VFSS in diagnosing and management of patients with swallowing problem or dysphagia [4, 5, 10, 11]. To our knowledge, there was little experience of comparing between ultrasound and VFSS in patients with swallowing problem. Therefore, we conducted this study to correlate submental ultrasound and VFSS findings and tried to find out the clinical feasibility and usefulness. Purposes: This study was to evaluate the usefulness of submental ultrasound (SM US) in oral phase swallowing in correlation with videofluoroscopic study (VFSS). To compare normal volunteers and patients with swallowing abnormality with submental ultrasound. To evaluate and compare patients with swallowing problem using submental ultrasound and VFSS. Type of study: Retrospective. Time of study: Jan 2004 - July 2006.

Epidemiology study for evaluation of incidence of swallowing disorders (SD) after prolonged invasive ventilation (more than seven days), using a clinical statement. All consecutive patients are screened, and clinical evaluation is performed during 48h after patient's extubation. If a SD exist, a new evaluation is realized 48h after. Three groups will be created (1.no SD, 2.transitory SD and 3.persistent SD (eg persistent after 48h)). Data complementary are notified at day 28 (pneumonia? nutritional status?)

This study will examine how the airway closes during swallowing to prevent food or liquid from entering the voice box or lungs while eating or drinking. It will also test whether electrical stimulation of muscles in the neck can close the airway as it would close during swallowing. The long-term goal of this research is to determine the feasibility of a new approach for helping patients with a severe and life threatening swallowing disorder. Healthy normal volunteers between 18 and 65 years of age who can swallow normally may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history, physical examination, electrocardiogram and nasolaryngoscopy. For the nasolaryngoscopy, the subject's voice box and epiglottis (flap of tissue that covers the windpipe during swallowing) are examined using a thin flexible tube with a camera attached that is passed through the nose to the back of the throat. During the test, speech and other tasks such as singing and whistling are observed. The camera records the movement of the vocal cords on videotape. This procedure may be repeated another time during the study. Participants undergo the following procedures: Electrical stimulation of muscles in the neck: The muscles in the neck are stimulated with brief low-level electrical currents to see if the stimulation can cause the epiglottis to fold down over the windpipe. Stimulation may be increased to a level where it feels like a small shock The subject is asked to try to do the muscle stimulation while swallowing. Videofluoroscopy (recording swallowing and muscle stimulation during x-ray imaging of the head): The head and neck are x-rayed while the subject swallows. After the wires have been inserted for EMG (see below), markers are glued to the tongue and a tube is inserted through the nose into the esophagus. The movements during swallowing with and without muscle stimulation are x-rayed and analyzed later to determine how the stimulation affects the movement of the epiglottis. Electromyography (EMG): Measurement of the electrical activity of muscles in the neck using fine wires placed through the skin into muscles in the chin. Manometry: During the videofluoroscopy, a manometer (tube that measures pressures) is placed through the nose and into the back of the throat at the entry point to the esophagus. This test shows whether muscle stimulation can fold down the epiglottis. Surface electromyography (sEMG): The tube used during the videofluoroscopy has small rings embedded in it that measure muscle activity on the surface of the inside of the throat.

This is a prospective descriptive cross sectional study to determine the percentage of patients presenting with dysphagia who are found to have eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and to establish which presenting factors warrant esophageal biopsies. We hypothesize that a greater than expected percentage of patients who are biopsies will have histologic changes consistent with EE.