Streptococcus suis Outbreak with Symptoms of Toxic Shock Syndrome in China

Backgorund: Patients suspected of having swallowing disorders, could highly benefit from simple diagnostic screening before being referred to specialist evaluations. We introduce surface electromyography (sEMG) to carry out rapid assessment of such patients and propose suggestions for standardizing sEMGs in order to identify abnormal deglutition. Methods: Specifics steps for establishing standards for applying the technique for screening purposes (e.g., evaluation of specific muscles), the requirements for diagnostic sEMG equipment, the sEMG technique itself, and defining the tests suitable for assessing deglutition (e.g., saliva, normal, and excessive swallows and uninterrupted drinking of water) are presented in detail. A previously described normative database for single swallowing and drinking and standard approach to analysis was compared to data on the duration and electric activity of muscles involved in deglutition and with sEMG recordings in order to estimate stages of a swallow. Conclusion: SEMG of swallowing is a simple and reliable method for screening and preliminary differentiation among dysphagia and odynophagia of various origins. This noninvasive radiation-free examination has a low level of discomfort, and is simple, timesaving and inexpensive to perform. With standardization of the technique and an established normative database, sEMG can serve as a reliable screening method for optimal patient management. Background Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) occurs in approximately 14% of patients in acute care setting an up to 50% of patients in nursing homes [1]. Its prevalence is related to the fact that dysphagia often is present in patients who have sudden-onset neurologic disorders, chronic neurodegenerative diseases, and patients with general medical problems, but in general it is an interdisciplinary phenomenon. It is frequently associated with painful swallowing, or odynophagia. It is estimated that 15 million patients suffered from a swallowing disorder during each year in the United States alone [2,3]. Patients with suspected dysphagia and/or odynophagia could highly benefit from preliminary screening for confirmation of diagnosis before being referred for more extensive clinical and instrumental evaluations by a specialist. Currently videofluorographic swallow study (VFSS) is the most commonly used tool in the assessment of oropharyngeal dysphagia, and it is considered the gold standard in the dysphagia workup. Unfortunately, VFSS has several drawbacks, as the patient must be transported to the radiology suite, must be able to cooperate with the examination, Published: 6 June 2007 Head & Face Medicine 2007, 3:26 doi:10.1186/1746-160X-3-26 Received: 13 March 2007 Accepted: 6 June 2007 This article is available from: http://www.head-face-med.com/content/3/1/26 © 2007 Vaiman; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.