Article

In this study, we intended to evaluate whether swallow treatment with
neuromuscular electrical stimulation is superior to that without neuromuscular
electrical stimulation, and whether neuromuscular electrical stimulation alone is
superior to swallow therapy. METHODS: We searched the PubMed and Scopus databases
from their earliest record to 31 December 2014 for randomized and
quasi-randomized controlled trials that used neuromuscular electrical stimulation
to treat post-stroke dysphagia. The Jadad scale was used to assess the quality of
the included studies. We extracted the mean differences and standard deviation
(SD) between baseline and posttreatment or posttreatment mean and SD for selected
outcomes measured in the experimental and control groups for subsequent
meta-analyses. RESULTS: Eight studies were identified. For the comparison
"swallow treatment with neuromuscular electrical stimulation vs. swallow
treatment without neuromuscular electrical stimulation," we found a significant
standardized mean difference (SMD) of 1.27 (95% confidence interval (CI) =
0.51-2.02, P = 0.001) with significant heterogeneity (I(2) = 85%). The
meta-analysis for the comparison of neuromuscular electrical stimulation alone
and swallow therapy demonstrated a non-significant SMD of 0.25 (95% CI =
-0.16-0.65, P = 0.23) without significant heterogeneity (I(2) = 16%). CONCLUSION:
Swallow treatment with neuromuscular electrical stimulation seems to be more
effective than that without neuromuscular electrical stimulation for post-stroke
dysphagia in the short term considering the limited number of studies available.
Evidence was insufficient to indicate that neuromuscular electrical stimulation
alone was superior to swallow therapy.
CI - (c) The Author(s) 2015.

Langue : ANGLAIS