To Evaluate Oral Phase Swallowing Function Using Submental Ultrasound

September 12, 2008 updated by: National Taiwan University Hospital

Ultrasound is widely applied in many fields of medicine but less commonly used in the evaluation of tongue movement and swallowing abnormality. Fuhrman RAW reported the usefulness of using ultrasound to evaluate poor tongue coordination [1]. Peng CL stated that ultrasound could provide excellent quantitative and qualitative bases of tongue movement during swallowing using cushion-scan technique [2]. Videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) is widely accepted as the gold standard of evaluating swallowing abnormality because it is able to evaluate the whole swallowing procedure without interference of pharyngeal contraction and foreign body sensation when swallowing is examined by using a fiber-optic laryngoscope. One of the most important information that VFSS can provide is the detection of subclinical silent aspiration. The decision and management of many patients with swallowing abnormalities are usually based on the VFSS findings [3]. As shown in many reports, our experiences showed that VFSS provided extremely important information of understanding the pathophysiologic change of dysphagia due to variable etiologies, such as in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer suffering from radiation therapy [4] and in patients with stroke [5]. Using the findings of VFSS, physicians and medical staffs can make important decision whether oral feeding should be given, which safety swallowing maneuver works and what is the appropriate choices of food consistency safe to dysphagic patients. The difficulties of VFSS are usually in the transportation of paraplegic and hemiplegic patients from ward to the examining chair. The frequency and examination duration of VFSS is usually limited for avoiding unnecessary radiation exposure. Hence, ultrasound provides a role in evaluating oral condition with the benefits of convenience of transportation and availability as well as no radiation exposure. Therefore, validation of the value of ultrasound for the oral swallowing with correlation of VFSS is important to test the clinical feasibility.

Peng CL et al reported their experiences of using real-time ultrasound in the evaluation of intrinsic tongue movement [2, 6, 7]. The findings of submental ultrasound are quite different from the findings of VFSS which provides the surface information of the tongue in the swallowing of radiopaque barium sulfate bolus. Combined real-time B mode and M mode ultrasound, it was reported the potential of digital data analysis of oral phase swallowing. Kuhl V et al reported the usefulness of ultrasound in the evaluation of laryngeal elevation in patients with dysphagia [8]. They found significant decrease of laryngeal elevation in patients diagnosed as neurogenic dysphasia [8]. Casas et al successfully combined ultrasound examination and plethysmography to evaluate the swallowing condition of children with cerebral palsy [9]. The results of these studies explained the potential of ultrasound in oral swallowing and dynamic laryngeal movement.

Our experiences of VFSS showed the usefulness VFSS in diagnosing and management of patients with swallowing problem or dysphagia [4, 5, 10, 11]. To our knowledge, there was little experience of comparing between ultrasound and VFSS in patients with swallowing problem. Therefore, we conducted this study to correlate submental ultrasound and VFSS findings and tried to find out the clinical feasibility and usefulness.

Purposes: This study was to evaluate the usefulness of submental ultrasound (SM US) in oral phase swallowing in correlation with videofluoroscopic study (VFSS).

  1. To compare normal volunteers and patients with swallowing abnormality with submental ultrasound.
  2. To evaluate and compare patients with swallowing problem using submental ultrasound and VFSS.

Type of study: Retrospective. Time of study: Jan 2004 - July 2006.

Study Overview

Status

Available

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Expanded Access

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Chang Yeun-Chung, Ph.D
  • Phone Number: 65566 886-2-23123456
  • Email: ycc5566@ntu.edu.tw

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • >= 20 yers

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Taiwan University Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 10, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 12, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

September 15, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 15, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 12, 2008

Last Verified

September 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 200702029R

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Dysphagia

Clinical Trials on Ultrasound

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Serbia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe