Towards a basic endoscopic assessment of swallowing in acute stroke - development and evaluation of a simple dysphagia score.

Background And Purpose: Dysphagia is an important complication of acute stroke with a reported incidence of up to 76%. The purpose of this investigation was to develop and to evaluate an endoscopic scoring system which has the potential to guide dysphagia management in acute stroke patients.

Methods: A fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) was carried out in 100 patients within 72 h of stroke onset.