2 research outputs found
Metallic Nanoislands on Graphene for Monitoring Swallowing Activity in Head and Neck Cancer Patients
There
is a need to monitor patients with cancer of the head and
neck postradiation therapy, as diminished swallowing activity can
result in disuse atrophy and fibrosis of the swallowing muscles. This
paper describes a flexible strain sensor comprising palladium nanoislands
on single-layer graphene. These piezoresistive sensors were tested
on 14 disease-free head and neck cancer patients with various levels
of swallowing function: from nondysphagic to severely dysphagic. The
patch-like devices detected differences in (1) the consistencies of
food boluses when swallowed and (2) dysphagic and nondysphagic swallows.
When surface electromyography (sEMG) is obtained simultaneously with
strain data, it is also possible to differentiate swallowing <i>vs</i> nonswallowing events. The plots of resistance <i>vs</i> time are correlated to specific events recorded by video
X-ray fluoroscopy. Finally, we developed a machine-learning algorithm
to automate the identification of bolus type being swallowed by a
healthy subject (86.4%. accuracy). The algorithm was also able to
discriminate between swallows of the same bolus from either the healthy
subject or a dysphagic patient (94.7% accuracy). Taken together, these
results may lead to noninvasive and home-based systems for monitoring
of swallowing function and improved quality of life