A crioestimulação nas disfagias orofaríngeas pós acidente vascular encefálico

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to check the effect of cryostimulation in the oropharyngeal sensitivity and afterward in the swallowing reaction and premature escape of food in patients with neurogenic dysphagia after stroke.To select the patients of this research, the following procedures were made: record analysis, interview with the patient and family, speech evaluation of the neurogenic dysphagia in hospital beds and videofluoroscopy test. At the end of the selection, seven adults subjects of both sex were envolved in this study, six men and one woman, with age ranging from 28 to 64, all of them with stroke, without other pathology of base and with oropharyngeal dysphagia. After the selected patients had been passed by the procedures above described and been in accordance with the criteria of inclusion and exlcusion estabilished by the research, they were submitted to the cryostimulation technique. The technique was made three times a day, during four days in a row, an overall of thirty daily applications for each structure ( anterior faucial pillar, posterior oropharyngeal wall, soft palate and back tongue). Next the technique application, the patients were evaluated again following the same criteria. There was a described analysis of data before and after cryostimulation of the clinic evaluation ranges and of the videofluoroscopy test. The data referring to time measurements of total swallowing time, oral transit time up to the swallowing reaction and pharynx transit time of swallowing reaction up to the pharinx cleaning were also analized and were compared, before and after cryostimulation. To compare the results of before and after cryostimulation and obtain significant factor, the test t-student was used and the Fisher test, with significance 5% (p<0,05). The results showed that the cryostimulation was effective in the oropharinx sensitivity recuperation in six of the seven subjects, with statistic significance. Also there were significant improvements, statistically speaking, in the improvement of swallowing reaction and in the premature escape in six subjects. Therefore, the subjects showed an improvement in the aspects proposed by the objectives of this study after the cryostimulation, and these results can be seen as in the speech evaluation as in the videofluoroscopy test.