ASPIRATION FOLLOWING STROKE - IS IT RELATED TO THE SIDE OF THE STROKE

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the side of stroke and the presence of aspiration on videofluoroscopy. Design: Observatio nal prospective study. Subjects: Eighty-seven patients (50% female) ad mitted with an acute stroke to the University Hospital of South Manche ster. Methods: Patients admitted to the study underwent brain CT scann ing and repeated videofluoroscopy. Results: CT scanning was performed within a median three days (interquartile range 2-4 days) following st roke and videofluoroscopic (VF) examination (median 2, interquartile r ange 1-4 days following stroke) of their swallow. Seventeen (19.5%) pa tients were noted to be aspirating. There were no significant relation ships at this time between side or site of lesion and the presence of aspiration. A second assessment was carried out al a median time of 29 days (interquartile range 26-45) following acute stroke. Nine of 69 ( 13.5%) patients were noted to be aspirating, seven of whom had right h emisphere lesions (p<0.01.) Conclusions: Continuing aspiration may be related to the side of the cerebral lesion.