Objective: To characterize the pattern of swallowing in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) through functional endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES).

Background: Dysphagia is a highly prevalent symptom in PD. The FEES is an effective method of diagnosis of dysphagia, being a non-invasive examination.

Methods: Cross-sectional study. Participants were selected in a Movement Disorders Clinic of a referral hospital in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It was included individuals diagnosed with PD that made the Hoehn & Yahr scale. Individuals with dementia and the presence of other neurological diseases were excluded. The FEES was perfomand with evaluation of oropharyngeal and laryngeal structures and offering food, dyed with blue food coloring in the liquid consistency (3 and 5 ml of water), slurry (3 and 5 ml water with thickening agent) and solid (¼ water and salt cookie.). No anesthetic was used for the examination. It is observed the posterior wall thickening of the larynx, tremor into structures, early escape, stasis in glosso-epiglottic fossae and piriform sinuses, laryngeal penetration, tracheal aspiration and cough reflex. At the end of the assessment, scored the intake according to the Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS).

Results: The sample consisted of 20 subjects, mean age 64.9 years (± 10.3), education years of 8.0 years (± 6.7), disease duration 11 years (± 6.0) and H & Y 2.8 (± 0.8), FOIS 6.2 (± 1.1). In FEES there was a higher percentage of food stasis (45%) and tremor structures (30%), followed by early escape (20%), penetration and thickening (10%) and aspiration and cough reflex (5%). A higher occurrence of stasis in stasis in glosso-epiglottic fossae and piriform sinus (55.5%), concomitantly.

Conclusions: It was observed a predominance of the presence of food stasis and trembling structures in this sample.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/swallowing-in-individuals-with-parkinsons-disease-a-study-of-fees/