Feasibility study of biofeedback in dysphagia therapy post stroke
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED FEASIBILITY TRIAL OF DYSPHAGIA THERAPY USING BIOFEEDBACK IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE STROKE
IRAS ID
216477
Contact name
Tim England
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 4 months, 2 days
Research summary
Swallowing impairment (dysphagia) is common after stroke and cause health complications such as pneumonia or malnutrition. Speech and Language Therapists are the lead professional in managing dysphagia and often recommend a means to adapt to/ compensate for these difficulties i.e. recommending easy to swallow food. SLTs also give exercises to help improve swallowing. Practicing an action you want to improve (in this case swallowing) in a repetitive, intensive and challenging way gives better results than strengthening individual muscles. This is based on the idea that our brains can learn or relearn skills if we practice them enough. Feedback is important in this process to know whether we are doing the skill correctly and how we can do it better. By placing electrodes underneath the chin, swallowing muscle activity can be measured and shown on a screen (called ‘surface electromyography’). Patients can use this visual feedback to alter how they swallow (called ‘biofeedback’). This training is very effective in patients who have had swallowing difficulties for more than 6 months. Our study will test whether this therapy is possible and acceptable in hospital patients who have recently developed swallowing difficulties due to stroke. We aim to recruit 30 patients who will be split into two groups in a random way (like tossing a coin). One group will receive the care usually provided on the ward, the other group will receive ‘biofeedback therapy’ plus the usual care. We will ask the patients what they think of the therapy and see if they can tolerate it soon after their stroke. Swallowing, health and quality of life will be assessed before and after to look for any changes. If biofeedback therapy is possible and acceptable to patients, the results will help us plan the next studies to find out if the treatment is effective.
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SC/0272
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion