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Vita Stim Can Help Patients Learn to Swallow
Author: | Wednesday March 19, 2008
Each year millions of Americans are affected with injury or illness that result in swallowing disorders.
VitalStim Therapy Improves
Patients’ Quality of Life
By Kim Maniscalco
Each year millions of Americans are affected by stroke, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, head or neck cancer and other neurological disorders. Among those are a set of individuals who, as a result of their disease, experience difficulty swallowing. This condition, known as dysphagia, prevents nearly 15 million adult Americans from being able to regain the normal swallowing function they enjoyed prior to illness or injury.
According to the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, each year more than 60,000 Americans die from complications associated with swallowing dysfunctions. The most common dysfunction is aspiration pneumonia, which is a result of food or saliva going down the windpipe into the lungs.
However, a relatively new therapy device called VitalStim is providing patients and their trained therapists with the tools to improve the function of the swallowing muscles. VitalStim uses small electrical currents to stimulate and contract the muscles of the face and throat. It specifically targets the type II muscle fibers that control the swallow function for thin liquids. These delicate muscle fibers begin to atrophy immediately after injury (such as a stroke or some forms of cancer), unlike type I fibers, which often remain intact and maintain function following trauma.
“The use of VitalStim therapy allows us to treat the actual cause of dysphagia, not just the symptom,” said Ken Peters, speech pathologist at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Miami. “We now are able to improve our patients’ quality of life by giving them back the ability to enjoy meals in social settings.”
Approximately 50 percent of stroke patients with dysphagia experience aspiration, which can result in several additional complications.
“Because VitalStim enables us to improve a patient’s swallowing, we see significant decreases with respect to malnutrition and dehydration, which statistically have been proven to lead to more serious complications, such as weakness resulting in falling accidents, pressure ulcers and infections,” said Peters.
“An alarming number of patients are admitted to hospitals dehydrated and malnourished, which in most cases, could be prevented.”
The common procedure used by hospitals to assist patients experiencing aspiration after stroke or other neurological trauma is to insert a feeding tube directly into the stomach wall (also known as a PEG tube). The PEG tube delivers nutrients to the stomach and eliminates the patient’s need to eat food normally. However, more than 75 percent of stroke patients who require a PEG tube end up keeping it long term, and sadly, fewer than half of all stroke patients who receive a PEG tube survive a year.
“A PEG tube certainly is not always the solution to aspiration issues related to dysphagia,” said Peters. “Many times the goal of hospitals is to discharge patients quickly, but inserting a PEG tube only gets them out the door. It doesn’t fix the problem.”
Since family meals and other social gatherings often revolve around the consumption of food and drinks, many patients who can no longer participate are left with a diminished quality of life. However, by improving the function of the swallowing muscles, these individuals can again enjoy going to restaurants, attending parties and maintaining their sense of social acceptance.
With the use of VitalStim therapy, more than 80 percent of patients experienced improved swallowing ability as compared to the 30 percent who achieved it with traditional therapy methods.
“From our experience, VitalStim is far superior to traditional therapy methods,” said Peters. “We take into account each patient’s abilities and take an interdisciplinary approach with respect to physical therapy to improve trunk and head strength, while also focusing our swallow-therapy efforts on strengthening their swallowing muscles. It’s a complete approach.”
Ed. Note: For additional information on the benefits of VitalStim therapy, contact Marla Fant, marketing coordinator at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Miami, at (305) 259-6404 or marla.fant@healthsouth.com.
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