Post-Stroke Dysphagia: Prognosis and Treatment-A Systematic Review of RCT on Interventional Treatments for Dysphagia Following Subacute Stroke
Frontiers in Neurology
Balcerak, P., Corbiere, S., et al. (2022).
Frontiers in Neurology, 13, 823189.
This systematic review investigates the impact of various treatments for individuals with acute stroke-associated dysphagia. Only treatments within the scope of speech-language pathology are included within this article review.
Department of Neurology and Stroke Center, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen (Switzerland)
Not specified
Randomized controlled trials
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Findings demonstrated that behavioral and/or physical therapies (e.g., respiratory muscle strength training, jaw opening exercises, exercises against resistance, etc.) were associated with improved swallowing outcomes in individuals with acute stroke-associated dysphagia in nine of thirteen studies.
Findings demonstrated that neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) was associated with improved swallowing outcomes in individuals with acute stroke-associated dysphagia in seven of nine studies. Greater improvements were seen with combined treatments of NMES and standard therapy versus NMES alone. Six of six studies demonstrated improvements following repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the affected motor cortex. Mixed results were noted for pharyngeal electrical stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation.
