Bio-feedback Treatment for Dysphagic Post-stroke Patients

NCT ID: NCT03247374

Last Updated: 2022-10-05

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 17 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-02-27
• Study Completion Date: 2022-10-04

Brief Summary

The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate whether the effect of bio-feedback dysphagia treatment is more effective than a control treatment in post-stroke patients.

This study will be a randomized, single-blind controlled pilot study. The investigators intend to recruit 40 patients who have suffered a stroke and have dysphagia. Twenty patients will undergo training with bio-feedback (experimental group) and the other 20 patients will undergo standard training, using only verbal feedback rather than visual feedback (control group).

The authors hypothesize that in the control group the efficacy of the treatment will be lower in the absence of immediate visual feedback of strength and coordination of the swallowing act.

Detailed Description

The procedure is divided into 5 parts:

• Clinical and instrumental evaluation (fibroendoscopy) of swallowing functions before the treatment;
• 25 sessions with bio feedback treatment or 25 sessions of control treatment;
• Clinical and instrumental evaluation (fibroendoscopy) of swallowing functions after the training;
• Clinical and instrumental evaluation (fibroendoscopy) of swallowing functions after 3 months.

Each participant will attend 5 sessions per week for a total duration of 5 weeks. The duration of each session will take 1 hour, including bio-feedback preparation that will take about 10 minutes for assembly and 5 minutes for removal. At the beginning of the bio-feedback session, a surface electrode will be applied to the mylohyoid muscle. The computer will analyze the electromyographic signal of the patient in real time and will produce visual feedback of the muscular activity on the screen. The patient will be required to swallow at a given time, with food bolus if possible, and perform maneuvers that favor swallowing strength and efficacy.

During the first session, participant will be instructed to use the tool before starting the training phase. Patients of both groups will participate in similar sessions, with classical maneuvers favoring swallowing efficacy that is effortful swallow, supraglottic swallow, and "Masako" maneuver, the first two with bolus administration, if possible. The experimental group will perform this training for 45 minutes with the support of visualization of muscle activity on the screen (biofeedback), while the control group will attend the same training for 45 minutes, but receiving verbal feedback from the speech and language therapist.

Data analysis

On the measures collected, a descriptive statistical analysis and distribution will be studied. Initial instrumental and clinical data from FOIS scale (The Functional Oral Intake Scale), PAS (Penetration-Aspiration Scale), Pooling Score (Farneti et al.); Cranial nerves test will be analyzed using parametric (t-test) and non-parametric (Wilcoxon test) tests with a p-value considered significant if <0.05, while longitudinal variations will be analyzed using ANOVA for repeated measurements. In addition, the effect size (Cohen's d) of the difference between the instrumental and clinical evaluation scales average before and after training in both groups will be calculated. This will allow to have an estimate of training effectiveness to perform a power study and plan a wider experimental study for validating the method.

Conditions

Dysphagia, Late Effect of Stroke; Deglutition Disorders

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

"ProComp5 Infiniti" Biofeedback

Each participant will attend 5 sessions per week for a total duration of 5 weeks. The duration of each session will take 1 hour, including bio-feedback preparation. At the beginning of the bio-feedback session, a surface electrode will be applied to the mylohyoid muscle. The patient will be required to swallow at a given time, with food bolus if possible, and perform maneuvers that favour swallowing strength and efficacy: effortful swallow, supraglottic swallow, and "Masako" maneuver, the first two with bolus administration, if possible. The experimental group will perform this training for 45 minutes, plus they will receive a verbal feedback from the speech and language therapist.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

"ProComp5 Infiniti" Biofeedback

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Each participant will attend 5 sessions per week for a total duration of 5 weeks. At the beginning of the bio-feedback session, a surface electrode will be applied to the mylohyoid muscle. The computer will produce visual feedback of the muscular activity on the screen. The patient will be required to swallow at a given time, with food bolus if possible, and perform maneuvers that favour swallowing strength and efficacy: they are requested to do classical maneuvers that favour swallowing efficacy that is effortful swallow, supraglottic swallow, and "Masako" maneuver. The experimental group will perform this training for 45 minutes.

Standard Speech and Language Therapy

Each participant will attend 5 sessions per week for a total duration of 5 weeks. The patient will be required to swallow at a given time, with food bolus if possible, and perform maneuvers that favour swallowing strength and efficacy: effortful swallow, supraglottic swallow, and "Masako" maneuver, the first two with bolus administration, if possible. The control group will attend this training for 45 minutes, receiving verbal feedback from the speech and language therapist.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Standard Speech and Language Therapy

Intervention Type: OTHER

Each participant will attend 5 sessions per week for a total duration of 5 weeks. The patient will be required to swallow at a given time, with food bolus if possible, and perform maneuvers that favour swallowing strength and efficacy receiving verbal feedback from the speech and language therapist. They are requested to do classical maneuvers that favour swallowing efficacy that is effortful swallow, supraglottic swallow, and "Masako" maneuver. The control group will perform this training for 45 minutes.

Interventions

"ProComp5 Infiniti" Biofeedback

Each participant will attend 5 sessions per week for a total duration of 5 weeks. At the beginning of the bio-feedback session, a surface electrode will be applied to the mylohyoid muscle. The computer will produce visual feedback of the muscular activity on the screen. The patient will be required to swallow at a given time, with food bolus if possible, and perform maneuvers that favour swallowing strength and efficacy: they are requested to do classical maneuvers that favour swallowing efficacy that is effortful swallow, supraglottic swallow, and "Masako" maneuver. The experimental group will perform this training for 45 minutes.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Standard Speech and Language Therapy

Each participant will attend 5 sessions per week for a total duration of 5 weeks. The patient will be required to swallow at a given time, with food bolus if possible, and perform maneuvers that favour swallowing strength and efficacy receiving verbal feedback from the speech and language therapist. They are requested to do classical maneuvers that favour swallowing efficacy that is effortful swallow, supraglottic swallow, and "Masako" maneuver. The control group will perform this training for 45 minutes.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• first stroke injury
• single lesion
• onset from more than six weeks
• presence of dysphagia (Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale ≥ 4)
• good comprehension ( not below PT 53 in Token Test)
• good eyesight and hearing, or adequately corrected

Exclusion Criteria

• All the elements that hinder a good recording of the electromyographic signal (for instance a cutaneous infection, a wound or a dermatitis in the submandibular area);
• Severe concomitant illnesses (fever, infections, metabolic problems, serious cardiac insufficiency) that can influence patient's collaboration;
• Serious dystonia or unintentional movements
• presence of disorders of consciousness;
• encephalopathy due to multiple infarcts;
• inability to sustain the experimental treatment;
• other neurological diseases (for example Parkinson disease);

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 81 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

IRCCS San Camillo, Venezia, Italy

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Sara Nordio

Speech and language therapist

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Sara Nordio

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

IRCCS San Camillo

Locations

Sara Nordio

Venice-Lido, , Italy

Countries

Italy

Other Identifiers

2017.12 - BioDis

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id