Article

Objective swallowing assessment is indicated in the management of patients with
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Surface electromyography (sEMG) provides a
non-invasive, objective method of quantifying muscle activity. It was
hypothesised that the measurement of sEMG activity during swallowing would
distinguish between preserved and disordered swallow function in DMD. This
comparative study investigated the peak, duration, and relative timing of muscle
activity during swallowing of four muscle groups: orbicularis oris, masseter,
submental, and infrahyoid. The study included three groups of participants: Nine
DMD patients with dysphagia (mean age = 21.7 +/- 4.2 years), six DMD patients
with preserved swallow function (21.0 +/- 3.0 years), and 12 healthy controls
(24.8 +/- 3.1 years). Dysphagic DMD participants produced significantly higher
normalised peak amplitude measurements than the healthy control group for
masseter (61.77 vs. 5.07; p </= 0.01) and orbicularis oris muscles (71.87 vs.
26.22; p </= 0.05). Intrasubject variability for masseter peak amplitude was
significantly greater for dysphagic DMD participants than the other groups (16.01
vs. 5.86 vs. 2.18; p </= 0.05). There were no differences in timing measurements
between groups. Different characteristic sEMG waveforms were observed for the
three groups. sEMG provides useful physiological information for the evaluation
of swallowing in DMD patients, justifying further study.

Langue : ANGLAIS