Do nasogastric tubes worsen dysphagia in patients with acute stroke?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early feeding via a nasogastric tube (NGT) is recommended as safe way of supplying nutrition in patients with acute dysphagic stroke. However, preliminary evidence suggests that NGTs themselves may interfere with swallowing physiology. In the present study we therefore investigated the impact of NGTs on swallowing function in acute stroke patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the first part of the study the incidence and consequences of pharyngeal misplacement of NGTs were examined in 100 stroke patients by fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). In the second part, the effect of correctly placed NGTs on swallowing function was evaluated by serially examining 25 individual patients with and without a NGT in place.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A correctly placed NGT did not cause a worsening of stroke-related dysphagia. Except for two cases, in which swallowing material got stuck to the NGT and penetrated into the laryngeal vestibule after the swallow, no changes of the amount of penetration and aspiration were noted with the NGT in place as compared to the no-tube condition. Pharyngeal misplacement of the NGT was identified in 5 of 100 patients. All these patients showed worsening of dysphagia caused by the malpositioned NGT with an increase of pre-, intra-, and postdeglutitive penetration.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based on these findings, there are no principle obstacles to start limited and supervised oral feeding in stroke patients with a NGT in place.</p

Test of a new technique for the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome

Several new techniques for carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis have been developed in the last few years. This work tests a technique that compares the distal motor latency of the median nerve to the second lumbrical muscle (2L) with the distal motor latency of the ulnar nerve to the interossei muscle (INT). Results from 40 normal hands give the superior limit of the normal difference (2L-INT) as 0.26 ms ((x) over bar + SD). In 55 hands with different levels of carpal tunnel syndrome, this new technique was more sensitive and accurate than the conventional test which uses the distal motor latency of the median nerve to the abductor pollicis brevis muscle (APB), especially in the less severe cases. With the absence of the compound muscle action potentials of the APE muscle caused by severe thenar atrophy, it is much easier to obtain the potential from the 2L muscle. We concluded that this is a sensitive, simple, rapid, and non-invasive new technique, and therefore, it should be incorporated as part of the routine ENMG procedures for carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.10212713

Denoising swallowing sound to improve the evaluator's qualitative analysis

Swallowing dynamics involves the coordination and interaction of several muscles and nerves which allow correct food transport from mouth to stomach without laryngotracheal penetration or aspiration. Clinical swallowing assessment depends on the evaluator's knowledge of anatomic structures and of neurophysiological processes involved in swallowing. Any alteration in those steps is denominated oropharyngeal dysphagia, which may have many causes, such as neurological or mechanical disorders. Videofluoroscopy of swallowing is presently considered to be the best exam to objectively assess the dynamics of swallowing, but the exam needs to be conducted under certain restrictions, due to patient's exposure to radiation, which limits periodical repetition for monitoring swallowing therapy. Another method, called cervical auscultation, is a promising new diagnostic tool for the assessment of swallowing disorders. The potential to diagnose dysphagia in a noninvasive manner by assessing the sounds of swallowing is a highly attractive option for the dysphagia clinician. Even so, the captured sound has an amount of noise, which can hamper the evaluator's decision. In that way, the present paper proposes the use of a filter to improve the quality of audible sound and facilitate the perception of examination. The wavelet denoising approach is used to decompose the noisy signal. The signal to noise ratio was evaluated to demonstrate the quantitative results of the proposed methodology. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.34214815

Características de pacientes disfágicos em serviço de atendimento domiciliar público Características de pacientes disfágicos en un servicio de atención domiciliar público Characteristics of dysphagic patients in public home care service

Este artigo teve como objetivo identificar as características dos pacientes portadores de disfagia decorrente de um acidente cerebrovascular em relação à idade, fatores de risco, episódios de acidente vascular cerebral (AVC) e grau de dificuldade para deglutir em função da consistência dos alimentos. Estudo transversal com 30 pacientes através da técnica da entrevista. Os resultados mostraram média de idade de 73,6 (± 9,55) anos, sendo 76,47% de mulheres, todos hipertensos e a metade diabéticos (58,82%). Todos tiveram acidente vascular isquêmico. Não se encontrou associação entre disfagia e idade nem com a frequência de episódios de AVC. Pacientes com hipertensão e diabetes apresentam maior chance para a disfagia. Constatou-se que a dificuldade de deglutição para líquidos é maior que os pacientes com disfagia são idosos com vários fatores de risco diante do que o enfermeiro deve orientar para uma alimentação segura diminuindo complicações como a pneumonia e a desnutrição.<br>Este artículo tuvo como objetivo identificar las características de pacientes portadores de disfagia en virtud de un accidente cerebrovascular, en relación a la edad, factores de riesgo, episodios de accidente cerebrovascular y nivel de dificultad para la deglutición de acuerdo con la consistencia de alimentos. Estudio transversal con muestra de treinta pacientes y técnica de entrevista. Los resultados muestran media de edad de 73,6 (± 9,55) años con 76,47% de mujeres, todos eran hipertensos y la mitad diabéticos (58,82%). Todos tuvieron accidente cerebrovascular isquémico. No se encontró asociación entre disfagia y edad, tampoco con la cantidad de episodios de accidente cerebrovascular. Pacientes hipertensos y diabéticos tienen mayor probabilidad para la disfagia. Há mas dificultad para deglutir líquidos. Discusión, todos son de edad con varios factores de riesgo fundamentando la idea de que es importante que el enfermero garanta una alimentación segura evitando la neumonía y desnutrición. Conclusión, la disfagia necesita ser precozmente avaluada en virtud de sus complicaciones.<br>This article discusses the characteristics of dysphagic patients victims of a stroke. The objectives were to identify the profile of patients with dysphagic and measure its association with age, risk factors, episodes of stroke and consistency of food. Methodology the cross-sectional study sample of thirty patients. Results show all 17 dysphagic patients were hypertensive and more than half also diabetic (58.82%). All they had ischemic stroke. There was no association between dysphagic and age nor with the frequency of stroke episodes. Patients with hypertension and diabetes had higher odds ratio for dysphagic referred to swallow liquids. Discussion, they were all elderly with three risk factors hypertension, diabetes and obesity and with increased difficulty in swallowing liquids than solids. It is concluded that the nurse needs to train to recognize the dysphagic and its complications such as pneumonia and malnutrition