This study was to identify the effects of oropharyngeal sensory stimulation on a functional oral intake scale, oro-pharyngeal swallowing functions, and aspiration pneumonia symptoms with nasogastric tube insertion in stroke patients.

This study was a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design. The subjects of the study were 32 patients who were hospitalized in Kosin Gaspel hospital. The experimental subjects were stimulated for 10~20 minutes, 1 time per day. The intervention was implemented for 2 weeks.

Participants in the experimental group significantly received a higher score in oro-pharyngeal swallowing function than those in the control group. However the participants in the experimental group only got a high score in the function oralintake scale which doesn't imply a statistical significance. In addition, they didn't geta remarkably higher score in aspiration pneumonia symptoms than those in the control group.

This study demonstrates that oropharyngeal sensory stimulation is effective in promoting recovery oro-pharyngeal swallowing function of nasogastric tube insertions in stroke patients.

The study was done to develop an evidence-based enteral nutrition (EN) protocol for effective nutritional support for dysphagia in patients with acute stroke, and to evaluate effects of this protocol on clinical outcomes.

A methodological study was used to develop the EN protocol and a quasi-experimental study to verify the effectiveness of the protocol. The preliminary EN protocol was drawn by selecting recommendations from previous well-designed EN guidelines, and then developing additional recommendations based on high-quality evidence. Content validation was assessed by an expert group, and clinical applicability by care providers and patients. The scale-level content validity index of the final EN protocol was 0.99. Assessment was done of differences in percentage of caloric goals achieved and presence of undernutrition, aspiration pneumonia, and gastrointestinal (GI) complications after application of the EN protocol.

In the EN protocol group, the percentage of caloric goals achieved (R²=.24, p=.001) and the reduction of GI complications (p=.045) were significantly improved, but the presence of undernutrition (p=.296) and aspiration pneumonia (p=.601) did not differ from the usual care group.

Results indicate that the new EN protocol for dysphagia in patients with acute stroke significantly increased their nutritional intake and reduced GI complications.