Background: Post-stroke dysphagia is a leading cause of morbidity and prolonged hospitalization in stroke patients. The videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) is one of the gold standard techniques, designed to define the anatomy and physiology of a patient's oropharyngeal swallow and examine the effectiveness of selected rehabilitation strategies designed to eliminate aspiration or excess oral or pharyngeal residue (the symptoms of patient's dysphagia). Objective: To quantify the improvement of patients' subjective and objective symptoms. Materials and methods: Institutional ethics committee clearance was taken. Fifteen patients were selected who satisfy our inclusion criteria. A prospective interventional study was done in the Department of PMR, IPGME&R, Kolkata over 12 months. Videofluoroscopic swallowing study was done on all these patients at baseline and at 3 months interval and swallowing technique of head rotation to the paretic side applied at baseline and Mendelsohn maneuvers were applied for 3 months duration. Changes in VAS of swallowing (VASs) and videofluoroscopic dysphagia scale (VDS) were noted. Inclusion criteria: Clinical dysphagia in a patient with confirmed posterior circulation stroke, after 2 weeks of stroke. Exclusion criteria: Anterior circulation stroke, Other pertinent neurological diseases, any structural abnormalities in head-neck region, medically unstable patient. Results: Statistically significant improvements of both VASs and VDS were seen in all the patients in follow-up visits with the application of selected swallowing techniques and maneuvers.
Conclusion:This study concludes that: • Simple swallowing techniques and maneuvers can improve the symptoms of dysphagia in patients with posterior circulation stroke.• Videofluoroscopy is helpful to diagnose and objectively quantify the improvement of dysphagia symptoms with different swallowing techniques and maneuvers.
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