Monitoring natural progression of dysphagic symptoms in stroke

Type of content
Theses / Dissertations
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Speech and Language Therapy
Degree name
Master of Speech and Language Therapy
Publisher
University of Canterbury. Department of Communication Disorders
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2008
Authors
Erne, Claudia
Abstract

Swallowing difficulties after acute stroke are common. Clinical bedside assessments are used frequently to detect acute dysphagia. Published studies which have assessed the natural history of swallowing using bedside assessments have only observed swallowing for a short period of time. The purpose of this investigation was to monitor the natural progression of dysphagic symptoms in stroke over three month using a clinical assessment. 26 patients consecutively admitted to the regional public hospital were assessed using a clinical assessment consisting of cranial nerve exam, observation of oral intake, water swallow test and inhalation cough challenge. The assessment was implemented within 72 hours post admission and then after one week, three weeks and three months. For this exploratory study, descriptive statistics were used to explore the data set. The results confirm that dysphagia after stroke is common and that there are improvements within three months.

Description
Citation
Keywords
Stroke, Dysphagia, clinical assessment
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Rights
Copyright Claudia Erne