A new research programme to investigate the potential of Pharyngeal Electrical Stimulation (PES) in enabling stroke patients to recover their swallowing ability has gone live at its first site as part of a trial.
The PhEAST (Pharyngeal Electrical Stimulation for Acute Stroke dysphagia Trial) study aims to help stroke patients who are unable to swallow food and drink to re-train their brain so that they can swallow independently again.
It has now gone live at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH), as part of research which hopes to change the lives of stroke survivors, around half of whom live with swallowing problems.
The study – led by the University of Nottingham – uses special nasal gastric tubes, which are used to feed patients, fitted with tiny electrodes.
The electrodes are used to deliver short bursts of current directly to the muscles and nerves that are used for swallowing.
It is hoped that by stimulating these nerves, the electric current will help to re-programme the swallowing centres in the brain. The stimulation can barely be felt by patients.
A stroke can cause swallowing problems in half of patients, many of whom still have abnormal swallowing a year later.
Swallowing problems can lead to chest infections, poor nutrition, the need for a feeding tube inserted into the stomach, long hospital stays and disability.
Having a long-term feeding tube reduces quality of life and adds to the physical, mental and emotional cost of stroke.
The study will aim to recruit 800 participants across sites in the UK, Austria, Denmark and Germany. The first participant has just been recruited from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, and RUH is the first site.
Professor Philip Bath, from the Stroke Trials Unit in the School of Medicine at Nottingham, is leading the study.
“Swallowing problems are very common after stroke and yet have no proven treatment,” he said.
“We are delighted to be starting the PhEAST trial in Nottingham and believe that it has an excellent chance of showing that pharyngeal electrical stimulation improves swallowing after stroke and so could benefit many people in the NHS.”
Emma Paulett, a speech and language therapist at the RUH, who is helping to run the research, said: “We are delighted that the RUH has been chosen to take part in such an important piece of research, which we hope will make a really positive difference to the recovery of stroke patients.
“This really is a groundbreaking study which will be using the very latest in medical technology to benefit some of our most seriously ill patients.
“The RUH already has an excellent reputation for its research, and it reflects very well on the Trust that we are the first trial site in the country to go live with such an important study.”
