doi:10.1155/2011/380682 Research Article Swallowing in Parkinson Patients versus Healthy Controls: Reliability of Measurements in Videofluoroscopy

Copyright © 2011 Laura W. J. Baijens et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. To determine and describe the pathophysiological aspects of oropharyngeal swallowing in patients with Parkinson’s disease more accurately, a pilot study of qualitative as well as quantitative parameters of swallowing was performed using vide-ofluoroscopy (VFS).Methods. Ten patients with a diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease having dysphagic complaints and ten healthy age- and gender-matched control subjects underwent a standardized videofluoroscopic swallowing protocol. Information on the swallowing function was derived from temporal, spatial, and descriptive visuoperceptual parameters. Intra- and interrater reliability was calculated. Results. No significant differences were found between Parkinson patients and healthy control subjects for the majority of the reliable variables. Conclusions. It was concluded that swallowing function seemed to be preserved in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, the reliability of many quantitative as well as qualitative swallowing parameter