Ultrasound: Reliability of a Pocket-Sized System in the Assessment of Swallowing

Purpose: Ultrasound imaging offers a noninvasive adjunct to clinical swallowing assessment. Published reliability of sophisticated ultrasound systems is promising; however, no data exist for reliability using more affordable, pocket sized devices. This study explored intrarater, interrater, and test-retest reliability of swallowing measures acquired with pocket-sized ultrasound technology. Method: Five participants collected measures of swallowing from 20 healthy individuals using the Clarius ultrasound. Hyoid excursion and thyrohyoid approximation were derived during saliva, liquid, and puree swallowing. The cross-sectional area of the floor of mouth muscles and tongue thickness were obtained at rest. Measures were collected at two occasions minimum 11 days apart. Reliability was assessed for the entire process of data acquisition including scanning and online measurement, and for offline measurement of saved images. Results: For most measures, reliability was poor (ICC [intraclass correlation coefficient] < .50) to moderate (ICC = .50-.75) for the entire process of data acquisition and poor to good (ICC > .75) when measuring saved images. Conclusion: Further work is needed to elucidate whether our study findings apply to the Clarius system only or the data suggest a general limitation of pocket-sized ultrasound technology.

Automated summary

This study investigated the reliability of swallowing measures obtained with pocket-sized ultrasound technology, finding poor to moderate reliability during the entire process of data acquisition and poor to good reliability when measuring saved images. Further research is needed to determine if these findings are specific to the Clarius system or indicative of a general limitation of pocket-sized ultrasound technology.