Dysphagia in Parkinson's patients: a neurostimulation study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring Novel Neurostimulation Based Therapies for Swallowing Impairments in Parkinson's Disease
IRAS ID
200591
Contact name
Shaheen Hamdy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 10 months, 1 days
Research summary
Swallowing is the essential bodily function of the transport of the food from the mouth to the stomach in a safe and efficient manner and occurs on average about 1000 times a day. People with Parkinson’s disease (PWPD) experience problems in swallowing, even in the early years following diagnosis.
Swallowing problems can cause severe complications that may threaten an individual's life. The most severe complication is aspiration pneumonia which is the result of liquids and food being wrongly directed into the lungs. Currently, the management of swallowing disorders is provided by speech and language therapists.
Meanwhile, clinical scientists have already demonstrated that externally applied neurostimulation approaches to the brain or the periphery can produce changes in function, for example in limb dyskinesias. These techniques have been found to be well-tolerated by PWPD. Until now, there are no studies investigating whether these treatments can have a beneficial effect on swallowing function in PWPD.
Previously, we studied how excited are the pathways from the motor cortex to the muscles in the pharynx in PWPD with and without swallowing disorders with the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). We have been able to record responses from the pharyngeal musculature with the use of an intraluminal catheter, which was well-tolerated.
Here, we would like to investigate which of the following 3 neurostimulation techniques can have an immediate effect on swallowing disorders in PWPD. These neurostimulation techniques are the:
-inhibitory repetitive TMS (1Hz rTMS),
-excitatory repetitive TMS (5Hz rTMS)
-pharyngeal electrical stimulation (PES).
The study is a placebo-controlled feasibility, cross-over trial for PwPD with mild dysphagia.These techniques have been studied in-depth at our department (studies on dysphagia stroke patients) and in other laboratories and are well-tolerated by PwPD. Here we are interested to understand how and which is the best method to promote change in swallowing physiology.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0031
Date of REC Opinion
28 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion