Electrical neuromuscular stimulation in dysphagia: Current status

Current Opinion in Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery

Volumn 18, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 159-164

  Ludlow, Christy L ^a  

^a JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Clinical trials; Hyo laryngeal elevation; Swallowing; Transcutaneous stimulation

Indexed keywords

CLINICAL TRIAL; CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL; DISEASE SEVERITY; DYSPHAGIA; EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE; HUMAN; HYOID BONE; INTERMETHOD COMPARISON; LARYNX; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REVIEW; SWALLOWING; THROAT; TRANSCUTANEOUS NERVE STIMULATION; TREATMENT INDICATION; TREATMENT OUTCOME; DEGLUTITION DISORDERS; ELECTROSTIMULATION; MUSCLE SPINDLE; PATHOPHYSIOLOGY; PROCEDURES;

DEGLUTITION DISORDERS; ELECTRIC STIMULATION; HUMANS; MUSCLE SPINDLES;

EID: 77952369707     PISSN: 10689508     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/MOO.0b013e3283395dec     Document Type: Review

References (19)

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2. Logemann JA, Kahrilas PJ, Cheng J, et al. Closure mechanisms of laryngeal vestibule during swallow. Am J Physiol 1992;262: G338-G344.
3. Freed ML, Freed L, Chatburn RL, et al. Electrical stimulation for swallowing disorders caused by stroke. Respir Care 2001;46:466-474.
4. Humbert IA, Poletto CJ, Saxon KG, et al. The effect of surface electrical stimulation on hyo-laryngeal movement in normal individuals at rest and during swallowing. J Appl Physiol 2006;101:1657-1663.
5. Ludlow CL, Humbert I, Saxon K, et al. Effects of surface electrical stimulation both at rest and during swallowing in chronic pharyngeal dysphagia. Dysphagia 2007;22:1-10.
6. Rosenbek JC, Robbins JA, Roecker EB, et al. A penetration-aspiration scale. Dysphagia 1996;11:93-98.
7. Park JW, Oh JC, Lee HJ, et al. Effortful swallowing training coupled with • electrical stimulation leads to an increase in hyoid elevation during swallowing. Dysphagia 2009;24:296-301. A study in healthy volunteers found that when the hyoid was pulled downwards in the neck by transcutaneous stimulation this increased hyoid elevation in swallowing after therapy.
8. Blumenfeld L, Hahn Y, Lepage A, et al. Transcutaneous electrical stimulation versus traditional dysphagia therapy: a nonconcurrent cohort study. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2006;135:754-757.
9. Permsirivanich W, Tipchatyotin S, Wongchai M, et al. Comparing the •• effects of rehabilitation swallowing therapy vs. neuromuscular electrical stimulation therapy among stroke patients with persistent pharyngeal dysphagia: a randomized controlled study. J Med Assoc Thai 2009;92:259-265. This study compared the effects of TES administered by a physician in comparison with dysphagia therapy administered by an occupational therapist. As the patients were not blind to the identity of the therapist and the patient reported FOIS were used at the outcome measure, the study is uncontrolled and would be biased toward showing greater benefit in the group treated by a physician.
10. Shaw GY, Sechtem PR, Searl J, et al. Transcutaneous neuromuscular electrical stimulation (VitalStim) curative therapy for severe dysphagia: myth or reality? Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 2007;116:36-44.
11. Baijens LW, Speyer R, Roodenburg N, et al. The effects of neuromuscular • electrical stimulation for dysphagia in opercular syndrome: a case study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2008;265:825-830. Both neck stimulaiton and facial stimulation were used in this case study of a patient who had had dysphagia for 3 years.
12. Bogaardt H, van Dam D, Wever NM, et al. Use of neuromuscular electro-•• stimulation in the treatment of dysphagia in patients with multiple sclerosis. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 2009;118:241-246. An uncontrolled study of a series of patients with multiple sclerosis when transcutaneous stimulation was applied only when the patients were attempting to swallow, that is, as functional electrical stimulation.
13. Bulow M, Speyer R, Baijens L, et al. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation •• (NMES) in stroke patients with oral and pharyngeal dysfunction. Dysphagia 2008;23:302-309. A high-quality multicenter clinical trial in stroke patients with dysphagia 3 or more months post onset. When patients were randomly assigned to two groups, traditional dysphagia therapy alone or traditional therapy with transcutaneous stimulation, both groups benefited to the same degree. Adding TES did not increase the benefit of therapy on objective measures of swallowing.
14. Carnaby-Mann GD, Crary MA. Adjunctive neuromuscular electrical stimula-• tion for treatment-refractory dysphagia. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 2008;117:279-287. An uncontrolled case series of the effects of TES and dysphagia therapy in chronic pharyngeal dysphagia.
15. Gallas S, Marie JP, Leroi AM, et al. Sensory transcutaneous electrical • stimulation improves post-stroke dysphagic patients. Dysphagia (in press). [Epub ahead of print] An uncontrolled case series of the effects of sensory-level surface stimulation in the submental region that showed some benefit in dysphagia.
16. Lim KB, Lee HJ, Lim SS, et al. Neuromuscular electrical and thermal-tactile •• stimulation for dysphagia caused by stroke: a randomized controlled trial. J Rehabil Med 2009;41:174-178. A study comparing thermal tactile stimulation alone and thermal tactile stmulation therapy with TES in patients early in the spontaneous recovery period. The thermal tactile group did not benefit on any of the outcome measures and the thermal tactile and TES group had greater benefit. The lack of benefit in the thermal tactile group alone was unexpected as both groups were early in the spontaneous recovery period. This suggests that this therapy had less benefit from what would usually occur with traditional therapy; therefore, this was not a good control therapy.
17. Lin PH, Hsiao TY, Chang YC, et al. Effects of functional electrical stimulation • on dysphagia caused by radiation therapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Support Care Cancer 2009 (in press). This study compared the benefits of TES dysphagia therapy with a self-administered home therapy program. As the latter was not effective it was not an adequate comparison group for the study.
18. Ryu JS, Kang JY, Park JY, et al. The effect of electrical stimulation therapy on •• dysphagia following treatment for head and neck cancer. Oral Oncol 2009;45:665-668. A well controlled clinical trial in patients with dysphagia after treatment for head and neck cancer. The control group had sham electrical stimulation with therapy for comparison with the experimental group that had therapy and active TES. Comparison of the change in function on four dysphagia measures showed a benefit on only one measure for the TES group over the sham stimulation therapy group.
19. Carnaby-Mann GD, Crary MA. Examining the evidence on neuromuscular electrical stimulation for swallowing: a meta-analysis. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2007;133:564-571.