Oropharyngeal dysphagia in patients with neuromuscular diseases : validation of new tools and screening process

Dysphagia is common in patients with neuromuscular diseases (NMDs). Its detection is important for initiating early diagnosis and treatment as well as for minimizing related complications. This thesis is composed of two parts. The first one aims to understand the management of dysphagia and to investigate which tools are currently available for its assessment in NMD patients. Then, an online survey was developed to have a comprehensive view of current practices patterns in the management of dysphagia in European healthcare facilities providing care for NMDs. The second part aims to use the Sydney Swallow Questionnaire (SSQ) in NMD patients to detect oropharyngeal dysphagia. For this purpose, the different steps were to translate the original SSQ for French-speaking patients, to assess the measurement properties of this version of the SSQ and to determine the proportion of patients identified as having oropharyngeal dysphagia by the SSQ in a large cohort of adult NMD patients.(MOTR - Sciences de la motricité) -- UCL, 202