Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
1. Phoniatrics, Otorhinolaryngology Department, Ain- Shams University Egypt. 2- Phoniatrics, ENT Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
2
3- Phoniatrics, Otorhinolaryngology Department, Sohag University Egypt. 4- Phoniatrics, ENT Department, King Salman Hospital, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Introduction: Dysphagia is a dysfunction of swallowing process that prevents the optimal transfer of food and fluid from the mouth to the stomach and may give rise to life-threatening complications such as dehydration, malnutrition, and aspiration. Rapid diagnosis and management of the swallowing disorder is, therefore, mandatory and should aim at early identification of those patients. The 3 Ounce-water swallow test (WST) is a commonly used test worldwide for assessing oropharyngeal dysphagia and aspiration. However, the clinical usefulness of the test is not yet studied in our region.
Objectives: To determine the value of the 3- Ounce water test as a screening tool for aspiration detection.To compare WST with instrumental tools to detect its reliability for confirmation of suspected patients.
Participants and methodology:104 patients, 59 (57% %) males and 45 (43%) females (mean age = 59.68±14 years), were included in the study. Most of the patients, 44 (42%) admitted to the hospital because of Cerebrovascular accidents with a duration of dysphagia of 14±7 days. Other causes of admission include Recurrent aspiration (10%), Traumatic brain injury (9%), Multi-organ failure (8%), Cardiac causes (6%), Head and neck cancer (4%), and Other causes (9%). All patients were subjected to full assessment, including history, examination, FEES, and WST test.
Results: The use of WST on 104 adult patients of different diagnostic categories after comparing the test results to FEES results for liquid aspiration revealed: 88.5% sensitivity and 71 % specificity of the 3-ounce WST
Conclusion: The water swallow test is a rapid, costless, and non-invasive screening test for detecting dysphagia. It showed fair sensitivity and specificity
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