Biomechanical and Temporal Measurement of Pharyngeal Swallowing for Stroke Patients with Aspiration

This study compared three pharyngeal swallowing measurements: Pharyngeal Delay Time (PDT), Stage Transition Duration (STD), and Delayed Pharyngeal Swallow (DPS) on the correct classification of three groups of subjects. These groups were: 15 stroke patients who aspirated (aspirators), 15 stroke patients who did not aspirate (non-aspirators) and 15 normal subjects.

Overall, the STD had highest mean classification among the three pharyngeal swallowing measurements. All three measures has a significant difference between aspirators and normal subjects. None of the measurements showed a difference between non-aspirators and normal subjects. The aspirators and the normal subjects were classified correctly most often; whereas the non-aspirators were considerably lower. The aspirators had the longest duration for triggering pharyngeal swallowing, whereas non-aspirators and normal subjects had similar durations. Clinical implications were discussed.