Development of Non-Invasive Tongue Pressure Measurement for Swallowing Function Assessment

Project: National Science and Technology CouncilNational Science and Technology Council Academic Grants

Project Details

Abstract

When the food is hard to be swallowed from the mouth, through the esophagus, to the stomach, we call this symptom dysphagia. Dysphagia will lead to many complications, such as dehydration, malnutrition, choking injuries, aspiration pneumonia and even death. In order to avoid dysphagia, early assessment and prevention is very important. A normal swallowing process can be seperated into the oral stage, the pharyngeal stage, and the esophageal stage. Currently most previous studies focused on the pharyngeal stage detection, and most-used assessment approaches are the invasive instruments. The first one is the video fluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), which uses an X-ray photography instrument to observe a subject’s swallowing process. This method will bring a risk of radiation exposure. The second method is to use a fiber optic endoscope to evaluate dysphagia. A subject will be asked to swallow colorful food or liquid, and then the physician will use an endoscope to observe the motions of the nasopharynx and the remaining food in the subject’s mouth and throat. This method, however, will let the subject feel uncomfortable and affect the original swallowing function. Since 2014, we have been funded a two-year MOST project. In this project, we collaborated with the research team in the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital to develop a portable, non-invasive device for bedside diagonosis. This device can measure the swallowing and respiration correlation through inertial sensors. However, the dysphagia may happen earlier than the pharyngeal stage, i.e., from the oral stage. To our best knowledge, only a few studies have addressed dysphagia detection at the oral stage. To follow the results of last two years, we propose this new two-year project. We aim to develop a non-invasive approach to detect swallowing function at the oral stage. We will also validate this approach with current instruments to enhance its sensitivity and functionality for further homecare or bedside applications.

Project IDs

Project ID:PB10507-2949
External Project ID:MOST105-2221-E182-014
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date01/08/1631/07/17

Keywords

  • dysphagia
  • portable non-invasive swallowing assessment
  • thyroid cartilage
  • tongue pressure

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