Title : Utility of ultrasonography in assessing dysphagia in patients with Parkinson’s disease
Abstract:
Objective: Dysphagia is a common bulbar dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease. Recently efforts have been made to evaluate dysphagia using ultrasonography. Laryngeal elevation could be measured by identification of the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage. The aim of this study was to compare the shortest hyoid-thyroid distance, tongue thickness, and the time interval between the initiation of tongue movement and the shortest hyoid-thyroid approximation using ultrasonography in elderly Parkinson’s disease patients.
Methods: Healthy controls and Parkinson’s disease patients with dysphagia were compared. Ultrasonography was performed 3 times for evaluating tongue thickness, the shortest hyoid-thyroid approximation, and the time between the initiation of tongue movement and the shortest hyoid-thyroid approximation. This study was also tried to evaluate these parameters of elderly Parkinson’s disease patients based on H-Y grade.
Results: A total of 10 healthy controls and 13 Parkinson’s disease patients with dysphagia were enrolled. No significant differences were demonstrated between the 2 groups for the shortest hyoid-thyroid approximation (controls, 1.29±0.37 cm; Parkinson’s disease patients, 1.55±0.39 cm, p=0.11), tongue thickness (controls, 4.48±0.49 cm; Parkinson’s disease patients, 4.37±0.59 cm, p=0.64), and the time to the shortest hyoid-thyroid approximation (controls, 1.78±1.29 ms; Parkinson’s disease patients, 2.88±1.72 ms, p=0.11). However, the time to the shortest hyoid-thyroid approximation was significantly prolonged in patients above H-Y grade 3 (1.45±0.32 ; 3.96±1.70 ms, p=0.004)
Conclusion: Ultrasonography can be useful method for evaluating dysphagia in patients with Parkinson’s disease by direct visualization and measurement of the hyoid bone. Moreover, ultrasonography might contribute to understanding the pathophysiology of dysphagia in Parkinson’s disease.
