Sensory neuromuscular electrical stimulation for dysphagia rehabilitation: A literature review.

BACKGROUND: Dysphagia is a common disorder following a cerebrovascular accident. It can cause detrimental effects on patient's quality of life and nutrition intake, especially in older adults. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation has been one of the management strategies for acceleration of the recovery. This review summarises the current evidence on sensory threshold stimulation of the procedure. METHOD: This review compiled data from the Internet database PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scopus using combination of MeSH thesaurus: 'Sensory threshold', 'electrical stimulation', 'neuromuscular stimulation', 'Deglutition', 'Dysphagia'. Eleven studies were intergraded into the review. RESULTS: Most of the studies show significant improvement to the outcomes of sensory neuromuscular electrical stimulation treatment. In many cases, the results of the treatment are comparable or superior to motor threshold stimulation and conventional therapy. However, the study design and parameters of the procedure varied greatly without conclusive standardised guidelines. CONCLUSION: The sensory neuromuscular electrical stimulation (SNMES) is a viable treatment option for treating oropharyngeal dysphagia. The most suggested application parameters are an intensity at sensory threshold, a frequency of 80 Hz, an impulse time of 700 µs, a combined total duration of 20 h of stimulation in a 2-week period, and placing the electrodes in the submental area of the neck. However, further research is necessary to construct a definitive guideline for clinicians.

In vivo measurement of three-dimensional load exerted on dental implants: a literature review.

BACKGROUND: For biomechanical consideration of dental implants, an understanding of the three-dimensional (3D) load exerted on the implant is essential, but little information is available on the in vivo load, including the measuring devices. PURPOSE: This review aimed to evaluate studies that used specific load-measuring devices that could be mounted on an implant to measure the functional load in vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An electronic search utilizing the internet research databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus was performed. The articles were chosen by two authors based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS: In all, 132 studies were selected from the database search, and 16 were selected from a manual search. Twenty-three studies were finally included in this review after a complete full-text evaluation. Eleven studies were related to the force measurements using the strain gauges, and 12 were related to the piezoelectric force transducer. The principles of the two types of devices were completely different, but the devices produced comparable outcomes. The dynamics of the load magnitude and direction on the implant during function were clarified, although the number of participants in each study was small. CONCLUSIONS: The load exerted on the implant during function was precisely measured in vivo using specific measuring devices, such as strain gauges or piezoelectric force transducers. The in vivo load data enable us to determine the actual biomechanical status in more detail, which might be useful for optimization of the implant prosthetic design and development of related materials. Due to the limited data and difficulty of in vivo measurements, the development of a new, simpler force measurement device and method might be necessary.