Voluntary Cough Testing as a Clinical Indicator of Airway Protection in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury.

Objective: Voluntary cough testing (VCT) may be useful for determining aspiration risk in neurogenic dysphagia; however, has yet to be investigated in traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (tCSCI). The study explored if VCT may elucidate swallowing safety and kinematics related to airway protection in tCSCI survivors.

Methods: Ten inpatients, 13-73 days post-tCSCI (7 incomplete injuries), completed VCT and a modified barium swallowing study that was analyzed via the Penetration Aspiration Scale (PAS) and norm-referenced measures of swallowing events related to airway protection.

Videofluoroscopic Profiles of Swallowing and Airway Protection Post-traumatic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury.

Videofluoroscopic analyses of swallowing in survivors of traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (tCSCI) have been largely limited to case reports/series and qualitative observations. To elucidate the disrupted physiology specifically underlying dysphagia post-tCSCI, this prospective observational study analyzed videofluoroscopic swallow studies (recorded at 30 frames per second) across 20 tCSCI survivors. Norm-referenced measures of swallow timing or displacement, and calibrated area measures of laryngeal vestibule closure (LVC) were explored in relation to the severity of aspiration or pharyngeal residue.