A Study to Compare the Efficacy of palatal Electrical Stimulation with Non-Swallowing Exercises vs Palatal Electrical Stimulation with Swallowing Exercises in Patients with Dysphagia Following Acute Stroke

Aim and objective: Stroke is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide and in India the prevalence of stroke among younger individuals is high compared with other countries, Dysphagia occurs commonly in ischaemic stroke as well as haemorrhagic stroke and this study which reveals the importance of physiotherapeutic interventions in treating dysphagia in stroke patients. The study is to compare the effects of palatal electrical stimulation with Non swallowing exercises VS Palatal electrical stimulation with swallowing exercises in patients with dysphagia following acute stroke. Methodology: 20 stroke patients (13 males and 7 females) between the age group of 30 to 70 years with post stroke dysphagia were recruited with GUSS score between 4 to 7. 20 subjects were randomly divided into two groups. Group A divided into 10 subjects who received palatal electrical stimulation with swallowing exercises. Group B divided into 10 subjects who received palatal electrical stimulation with Non- swallowing exercises. Study design: This study design is based on Comparative study design and carried out in Hospitals around Chennai and home care patients. The Guggling swallowing Scale and Dysphagia Severity Rating Scale were studied for 2 weeks and 5 sessions per week was done. The included criteria is Acute stroke patients with swallowing difficulty, Age between 30 to 70 years, Medically stable patients and Patients on Ryle’s tube. The Exclusion criteria is Stroke patients with cognitive impairment, Brainstem stroke, Patients with tracheostomy, Stroke more than 6 months duration and Patients with pulmonary complications Results: The patients were screened initially with GUSS scale. The pre- test mean values for experimental and control group are found to be 5.50 and 6.10 respectively. The post- test mean values for experimental and control group are found to be 13.40 and 10.10 respectively. There is significant effect of treatment group A (Control Group) in decreasing the value of DSRS (t = 9.00, p = 0.000 < 0.05). In addition, the mean value of DSRS has decreased from 8.50 to 5.80, which confirms that Control Group (A) is significantly effective in decreasing the value of DSRS score. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that stroke patients with dysphagia benefit from palatal electrical stimulation and exercises. But combined method of palatal electrical stimulation and Non-swallowing exercises proved to be more superior and effective treatment for the acute stroke patients with dysphagia than treating with combined method of palatal electrical stimulation and swallowing exercises. Keywords: Dysphagia, Stroke, GUSS, DSRS.Dysphagia, Stroke, GUSS, DSRS.