The Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on Swallowing Functions in Stroke Patients With Dysphagia

Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS) is a scale that shows the functional oral intake of patients with dysphagia. FOIS used for evaluation is a two part scale consisting of 7 levels. It is used to show whether the individual is dependent on the feeding tube and the level of oral intake. On this scale, 7 shows the best and 1 shows the worst functional oral intake. The change in FOIS will be our primary outcome measure in our research. It has been evaluated as an appropriate tool to demonstrate the change in functional oral intake in stroke patients. It is suitable as an independent measure of functional oral intake in prospective studies of stroke-related dysphagia.

Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT-10) is used to assess participants' dysphagia symptoms, symptom severity, and risk of oropharyngeal dysphagia. This scale is a scale of 10 questions that the patient himself answers, which questions the symptoms of dysphagia. The answer points for each question range from 0 (no problem) to 4 (serious problem). If EAT-10 score is ≥3, it is considered as "risk of oropharyngeal dysphagia". It is a useful tool to evaluate the severity of dysphagia symptom in the clinic, to monitor the progression and effectiveness of the disease.

Swallowing-related quality of life scale (SWAL-QOL) is used to evaluate the effect of swallowing disorders on quality of life. It was created to evaluate the quality of life of patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia. It includes a total of 44 questions under eating disorder, eating time, eating desire, food selection, communication, anxiety, mental health, social functionality, fatigue, and sleep subgroups. Each question is evaluated with a score ranging from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). The subgroup scores of the scale and the total score of the scale can be used to assess the change in patients.

Patients' difficulty in swallowing will be questioned using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). On a scale of ten centimeters, patients will be asked to mark the appropriate level of dysphagia 0: No dysphagia, 10: Very severe dysphagia.

In the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine Otorhinolaryngology Diseases Clinic, evaluations will be made by the Ear Nose Throat Specialist. Whether there is vocal cord paresis and paralysis and whether glottic patency is evaluated in the laryngostroboscopic examination.

Fiberoptic endoscopic swallowing assessment will be performed by the otolaryngologist doctor before and immediately after the treatment. In the fiberoptic endoscopic swallowing assessment, the condition of the patient according to the penetration aspiration scale will be checked. Grade 1 represents the best and grade 7 the worst on the penetration aspiration scale.

This ten-item scale is a scale designed for adult populations with voice disorders to measure both social-emotional and physical-functional aspects of voice problems. The answer points for each question range from 1 (few problems) to 5 (serious problems). A total score change on this scale will be used to evaluate patients.