The Role of Electrophysiologic Evaluation in Dysphagia Diagnosis in Acute Stroke Patients

Background and Purpose: It was aimed at investigating the efficiency of electrophysiological evaluation procedure by compared to healthy controls in acute period stroke patients in this study. As a secondary aim, it was evaluated that whether the patient groups defined as “dysphagic” and “with normal swallowing” were different from each other or not, in respect to the stroke severity and disability. Methods: Forty-two stroke patients and 15 healthy hospital personnel were included in this study. Demographic and disease characteristics of patients were recorded. The stroke severity and disability rate were evaluated. Electrophysiological evaluation was performed in all participants. Electro neuromyography recordings were received from submental electrodes and laringeal sensor. Swallowing interval times and dysphagia limit were recorded. Patient and control groups were compared in terms of electrophysiologic evaluation method. The patient group separated in itself as “normal swallowing” and “patients with dysphagia” according to the interval times and dysphagia limit and were compared in terms of stroke severity and disability rate. Results: The all interval times in the patient group were found significantly longer than the control group. The stroke severity and the disability of the patients defined as “with dysphagia” were found significantly higher than the “normal swallowing” patients, in term of the pharyngeal phase time. Conclusions: The electrophysiologic evaluation the swallowing phase times is a sensitive and objective method in acute period stroke patients that can drink liquid in normal quantities, especially.