Gastrointestinal Dysfunction in Parkinson???s Disease

Effects of Therapy for Dysphagia in Parkinson’s Disease: Systematic Review

“…No posttreatment measurements were described, although the authors' own conclusions were included. In contrast to Born et al [19], Byrne et al [20] mentioned disease severity (H-Y scale).…”

“…The included studies on the effects of dysphagia treatment in patients with Parkinson's disease varied in quality of design and most of the included studies had at least one methodologic shortcoming that may have introduced bias. In two articles the therapy effects were evaluated positively by the authors despite the fact that only pretreatment examinations were performed [19,20]. These articles provided no evidence of efficacy because of the missing posttherapy measurements.…”

“…When using a restricted set of instruments, the information on therapy outcome will be restricted as well. Poorly defined outcome parameters [19][20][21]31] and inadequate statistical analysis were also causes of reduced reliability.…”

“…In the articles by Born et al [19] and Byrne et al [20], cricopharyngeal sphincterotomy was performed in very small groups of patients. Born et al [19] described four patients who experienced excellent and sustained relief of esophageal symptoms following surgery, providing further support for the primacy of cricopharyngeal dysfunction in causing dysphagia in these patients.…”

“…The patients tolerated myotomy extremely well and none developed aspiration. Byrne et al [20] studied three patients with cricopharyngeal dysfunction who had undergone cricopharyngeal myotomy with excellent results. Only pretreatment measurements consisting of manometry and videoesophagography were performed in both studies.…”