A PRELIMINARY COMPARISON OF VIDEOFLUOROSCOPY OF SWALLOW AND PULSE OXIMETRY IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF ASPIRATION IN DYSPHAGIC PATIENTS

Pulse oximetry has recently received attention in the dysphagia litera ture because of its possible contribution to the management of neuroge nic dysphagia. The present study was devised to examine whether pulse oximetry could be exploited to determine episodes of aspiration in pat ients with known dysphagia of neurologic origin. To this end, pulse ox imetry was undertaken in six patients undergoing videofluoroscopic stu dy of swallow. Normal controls also underwent pulse oximetry during fe eding. The results indicate that there is no clear-cut relationship be tween changes in arterial oxygenation and aspiration. However, some su pport is found for the association between altered arterial oxygenatio n and oral feeding in dysphagic individuals. Further research in both normals and compromised individuals is needed.