Post-stroke dysphagia: progress at last

Oropharyngeal Dysphagia (OD) is both underestimated and underdiagnosed as a cause of malnutrition and respiratory complications following stroke. OD occurs in more than 50% of stroke patients. Aspiration pneumonia (AP) occurs in up to 20% of acute stroke patients and is a major cause of mortality after discharge. Systematic screening for OD should be performed on every patient with stroke before starting oral feeding, followed, if appropriate by clinical and instrumental (videofluroscopy and/or fiberoptic endoscopy) assessment. Bolus modification with adaptation of texture and viscosity of solids and fluids and postural adjustments should be part of the minimal treatment protocol, but they do not change the impaired swallow physiology nor promote recovery of damaged neural swallow networks in stroke patients. To this purpose, two new neurostimulation approaches are being developed to stimulate cortical neuroplasticity to recover swallowing function: (i) those aimed at stimulating the peripheral oropharyngeal sensory system by chemical, physical or electrical stimulus; and (ii) those aimed at directly stimulating the pharyngeal motor cortex, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The study of Park etal. in this issue of Neurogastroenterology and Motility evaluated the effect of rTMS in dysphagic stroke patients and showed a marked improvement in swallow physiology. Other studies also using rTMS showed plastic changes in pharyngeal motor cortical areas relevant to swallowing function. If further randomized controlled trials confirm these initial results, the neurorehabilitation strategies will be introduced to clinical practice sooner rather than later, improving the recovery of dysphagic stroke patients. Progress at last.