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Pharyngeal Cavity Electrical Stimulation-Assisted Swallowing for Post-stroke Dysphagia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Studies

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Abstract

Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability among adults. The incidence of stroke per 100, 000 patient-years was 2875. As many as 37% to 78% of patients with acute strokes suffer dysphagia. Dysphagia can easily lead to inhalation pneumonia, dehydration, malnutrition, and other serious complications, affecting the quality of life of stroke patients and increasing their mortality. Effective prevention and treatment of post-stroke dysphagia are of great significance to improving the prognosis and quality of life of patients. Some studies have shown that Pharyngeal cavity electrical stimulation-assisted swallowing (PCES-assisted swallowing) has a positive effect on patients with post-stroke dysphagia. This study will evaluate the effects of PCES-assisted swallowing on post-stroke dysphagia, including swallowing function, withdrawal rate of nasal feeding tubes, duration of hospitalization, and so on. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of PCES-assisted swallowing in the treatment of post-stroke dysphagia were searched in eight databases, including Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, VIP Information Resource System, CNKI, and Wanfang Medical Science. The retrieval time was from the database establishment to June 2022. Rayyan was used to screen the retrieved literature risk of bias for included studies and was calculated using ROB2.0. The RevMan 5.3 software was used for the meta-analysis with the standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The model type was a random effect model, The risk ratio (RR) was used as the effect size for the two categorical variables. The swallowing function scores, withdrawal rate of nasal feeding tubes, and Length of stay (LOS) of the intervention and control groups were extracted, and the results of the meta-analysis were presented using a forest plot. Six studies from 2010 to 2018 with a total of 341 people were included in the meta-analysis. All studies reported quantitative outcome measures for the severity of dysphagia, and some reported the withdrawal rate of nasal feeding tubes, LOS, and penetration-aspiration-scale (PAS). The overall swallowing function of the PCES group was better than that of the control group (SMD = − 0.20, 95%CI − 0.38 to − 0.03, P = 0.02). In terms of the severity of dysphagia, there was a statistically significant difference in the Dysphagia Severity Rating scale (DSRS) between the Pharyngeal cavity electrical stimulation (PCES) group and the control group (SMD = − 0.24, 95%CI − 0.48 to 0, P = 0.05). The PCES group nasal feeding withdrawal rate of nasal feeding tubes was higher than the control group (RR = 2.88, 95% CI 1.15 to 7.26, P = 0.02). There was no significant difference in the LOS between the PCES group and the control group (SMD = − 0.19, 95%CI − 0.44 to 0.07, P = 0.15). This systematic review and meta-analysis provide reasonably reliable evidence that PCES-assisted swallowing can improve nasogastric feeding swallowing function and the withdrawal rate of nasal feeding tubes in patients with post-stroke dysphagia. However, the evidence for reducing oral feeding, aspiration, and length of hospitalization stay is lacking, and further studies are needed.

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Data Availability

The datasets presented in this study are available in the online repository. The name and accession number of the repository can be found in the article/supplementary materials.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the authors for their hard work, and thanks the teachers of Gannan Medical University and Yuebei People's Hospital for their help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shaoguan First People’s Hospital, Shaoguan, 512000, Guangdong, China

    Zicai Liu, Jinling Cheng & Cheng Tan

  2. Yuebei Second People’s Hospital, Shaoguan, 512000, Guangdong, China

    Huiyu Liu

  3. Department of Rehabilitation Therapy Teaching and Research, Gannan Healthcare Vocational College, Ganzhou, 341000, Jiangxi, China

    Dongmiao Han

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Contributions

DMH and ZCL conceptualized the study design and searched and filtered the title and abstract of the article. JLC and CT drafted and supplemented the methodology. DMH and ZCL confirmed the data and statistical analysis. CT solved the difference. HYL and JLC modified their English and provided help in data analysis. All authors provided information about the direction of the research and the contents of the manuscript and all authors endorsed these divisions and the final manuscript conte.

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Correspondence to Cheng Tan, Huiyu Liu or Dongmiao Han.

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Liu, Z., Cheng, J., Tan, C. et al. Pharyngeal Cavity Electrical Stimulation-Assisted Swallowing for Post-stroke Dysphagia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Studies. Dysphagia (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-023-10644-4

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