Evaluation of Dysphagia in Motor Neuron Disease. Review of Available Diagnostic Tools and New Perspectives

Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) is highly prevalent (up to 80%) in patients with motor neuron disease (MND), influencing the prognosis of the disease. The clinical assessment of dysphagia is complex. There are assessment scales and screening questionnaires, but they have not been tested in patients with MND. In a sample of 46 patients with MND, the sensitivity and specificity of the EAT-10 and SwalQoL questionnaires, as well as the ALS-SS and FOIS scales, were tested and compared to the gold standard technique (videofluoroscopy, VFS). The patients were stratified using the DOSSc variable according to the video fluoroscopic examination with (n = 37) or without (n = 8) signs of dysphagia, and the results were compared with the scores obtained in the dysphagia questionnaires. None of the studied questionnaires was more sensitive than the others, but one stood out for its high specificity (= 1): the SwalQoL revised FS. The symptom frequency section of the SwalQoL questionnaire with some modifications, (SwalQoL revised FS) may be a useful tool in the clinical assessment of dysphagia because it's capable to detect the patients that really don't have dysphagia. The ALS-SS showed the greatest validity as a severity scale of dysphagia among the sample studied. A specific questionnaire for screening for dysphagia in MND needs to be developed. Until that time, the proposal is to use a combination of the existing questionnaires for other pathologies (EAT-10 and SwalQoL) and the specific scale for MND, the ALS-SS, to make an accurately clinical assessment of OD in MND patients before to perform a videofluoroscopy.

Automated summary

Research tested different questionnaires and scales for evaluating dysphagia in MND patients, finding that SwaIQoL revised FS showed high specificity and ALS-SS was the most valid severity scale in the sample studied. A specific questionnaire for screening dysphagia in MND is needed.