title: Relationship between tongue pressure and dysphagia in stroke patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although poststroke dysphagia is an important issue for determining prognosis, the pathophysiology of oral-phase dysphagia has yet to be clarified due to a lack of adequate devices and protocols. The present study investigated the relationships between swallowing pressure production by the tongue and dysphagia in stroke patients using a newly developed method of tongue pressure measurement with a sensor sheet system.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 64 stroke patients, including 30 patients with dysphagia. A T-shaped sensor sheet with 5 measuring points was attached to the hard palate to record tongue pressure while swallowing 5 ml of water. The average maximal magnitude and incidence of abnormalities such as asynchronous and/or polyphasic patterns in tongue pressure waves in 5 locations were compared between patients with and without dysphagia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average maximal tongue pressure was significantly smaller in patients with dysphagia than in those without dysphagia. Asynchronous and polyphasic patterns showed a sensitivity of 63 and 87%, and a specificity of 91 and 71%, respectively, for identifying patients with dysphagia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tongue pressure production during swallowing appears closely related to poststroke dysphagia. Tongue pressure measurement appears useful for evaluating the pathophysiology of oral-phase dysphagia in stroke patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cerebrovascular Medicine, National Cardiovascular Center, Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Kuni
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Konaka
authors.forename: Jugo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Nobuko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hirota
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamine
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Yoshinobu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Saburo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakoda
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Naritomi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011312:Pressure; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D014059:Tongue / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014160:Transducers, Pressure