Novel Pharyngeal Metrics to Predict Dysphagia Outcomes

Not Applicable

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Swallowing Disorders; Dysphagia
• Interventions: Other: standard of care lingual strengthening

• Registration Number: NCT04569097
• Lead Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development

Brief Summary

This multi-site trial will follow a cohort of Veterans with dysphagia for 8 weeks as they undergo clinically guided oropharyngeal exercises with oropharyngeal strengthening as the primary goal. Veterans with dysphagia will be assessed at three time points: baseline, 4 weeks after treatment initiation, and 8 weeks after treatment initiation. A non-dysphagic Veteran control group will also undergo data collection at parallel time points, without completion of a treatment paradigm. The investigators will then compare patients to non-dysphagic controls using manometry, videofluoroscopy, diet assessment, functional reserve tests, and patient-reported outcome measures.

The investigators aim to 1) quantify change in pressure measures of swallowing function resulting from dysphagia treatment; 2) determine which combination of standard of care and/or pressure-based metrics best track with outcome measures; and 3) develop multimodal prognostic algorithms that predict treatment success. This research will establish a precise outcome measurement paradigm suitable for dysphagia clinical care and research, thus improving clinical confidence and paving the way for a personalized medicine approach for dysphagia rehabilitation in Veterans.

Detailed Description

This multi-center trial will follow a cohort of Veterans with dysphagia for 8 weeks as they undergo clinically guided oropharyngeal exercises with oropharyngeal strengthening as the primary goal. Veterans with dysphagia will be assessed at three time points: baseline, 6-4 weeks post-treatment, and 8 weeks post-treatment. A non-dysphagic Veteran control group (n=50) will also undergo data collection at parallel time points, without completion of a treatment paradigm. The investigators will then compare patients to nondysphagic controls using pHRM, videofluoroscopy, diet assessment, functional reserve tests, and patient reported outcome measures. The investigators aim to 1) quantify change in pHRM measures of swallowing function resulting from dysphagia treatment; 2) determine which combination of standard of care and/or pHRM-based metrics best track with patient-reported outcome measures; and 3) develop multimodal prognostic algorithms that predict treatment success. This research will establish a precise outcome measurement paradigm suitable for dysphagia clinical care and research, thus improving clinical confidence and paving the way for a personalized medicine approach for dysphagia rehabilitation in Veterans.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2020-09-23
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-09-23
• Study First Posted: 2020-09-29
• Study Start: 2021-06-28
• Primary Completion: 2024-09-30
• Status Verified: 2024-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-11-12
• Last Update Posted: 2024-11-13
• Study Completion: 2025-09-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 200

Inclusion Criteria

• Signed an informed consent form
• Receive a dysphagia diagnosis by a speech-language pathologist
• Must have a dysphagia treatment plan with the goal of strengthening the oropharyngeal musculature
• English speaking

Exclusion Criteria

• history of allergic response to barium
• history of allergic response to topical anesthetics

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Patient group	standard of care lingual strengthening	lingual strengthening

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
pHRM pressure change	Baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks	Will assess the change in pressure by pharyngeal high resolution manometry over the time frame The primary measure of interest is Integral Pressure during the 10 mL swallow at the tongue base Range is From: 0 mmHg\*sec, no pressure recorded to up to 250 mmHg\*sec., very high pressures recorded, normal range is age and sex dependent Range (114+/-50 to167 +/-80) Positive change would be a movement toward normal range of pressure. This metric is measured automatically in both Software systems used to evaluate pharyngeal pressure (WiscMano and Swallow gateway)
Swallowing clinical and fluoroscopic change	Baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks	Will assess the change in fluoroscopy and clinical assessments over the time frame The primary tool of measurement is the combined score of the MBSImP this is a 17 item standardized tool to measure impairment of swallow identified using contrast barium swallows. We will use the composite pharyngeal score which ranges from 0 to 3, the higher the score the more abnormal the swallow function, Normal swallows will score 5 or less and severe dysphagia will score 9 or higher.; Movement toward 0 is a positive or improved swallow function, movement toward 23 is negative or worsening swallow function
Patient reported outcome changes	Baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks	Sydney swallowing questionnaire (SSQ) The SSQ is a patient reported symptom scale with 17 questions, each scaled from 0+ no dysfunction to 100 equal extreme dysfunction using a 100mm visual analogue scale with 0 and 100 as anchors. the total score can be recorded for 0 to 1700, Normal swallowers will average 40 with a range of 200 to 0, Dysphagia patients average 800 with a range of 150 to 1600. Movement toward 0 will be considered an improvement, movement toward 1700 worsening in swallowing ability preserved by the patient.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Patient reported outcome changes	Baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks	Eating assessment tool -10, The Eat 10 is a short 10 question swallowing assessment tool 10 questions each scaled 0 to 4, total can be between 0 and 40.; The normal swallowers will score under 2. The mean (+/- SD) EAT-10 score of the normal cohort was 0.40 +/- 1.01.; The mean EAT-10 score for those with oropharyngeal dysphagia, 23.10 +/- 12.22 Changes toward 0 will be identified as improved swallow symptom function, changes toward 40 worsening symptoms
Patient reported outcome changes, Diet change	Baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks	International Dysphagia Diet Standardization initiative, Functional Oral intact scale Standardize scale of diet (liquid and solid food) iddsi.org foods scaled from regular diet 7 to liquidized 3, and liquids scaled from thin liquids 0 to extremely think 4 Improvement in diet will be report if patients move toward 0 in liquid intake and toward 7 in solid food intact and movement in the opposite directions will be evidence of poorly food and liquid tolerance

Trial Locations

Locations (3)

Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL; 🇺🇸 Hines, Illinois, United States

Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH; 🇺🇸 Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, WI; 🇺🇸 Madison, Wisconsin, United States