Effects of Age and Bolus Volume on Velocity of Hyolaryngeal Excursion in Healthy Adults

Abstract

Reduced movement velocity has been identified as a risk marker for movement impairment in older adults. Hyolaryngeal excursion is a key movement feature of normal swallowing function which is known to change with age and other extrinsic variables such as bolus volume. However, velocity of hyolaryngeal excursion has received limited attention in the literature on normal or abnormal swallowing. This study evaluated the effects of age and bolus volume on the velocity of hyoid and laryngeal excursion during swallowing in healthy adults. Forty-four healthy volunteers were grouped into three age bands (young: 20-35 years, middle age: 36-55 years, older: 56 ≥ years). All subjects swallowed 5 and 20 mL of thin liquid during fluoroscopic recording. Fluoroscopic images were extracted for each swallow representing the onset and maximum excursion positions of the hyoid and larynx. Superior and anterior excursion distance (excursion magnitude) and the time difference between rest and maximum excursion (excursion duration) were calculated. Velocity was calculated as a ratio of distance over time. Superior hyoid excursion magnitude was significantly increased for the 20 mL volume. Anterior laryngeal excursion magnitude was also significantly increased for the 20 mL volume. No kinematic duration measure demonstrated significant change across age or bolus conditions. Superior hyoid excursion velocity was significantly faster for the 20 mL volume. Superior and anterior laryngeal excursion velocity were significantly faster for the 20 mL volume only in the older group. Results of this study indicate that magnitude and velocity of hyoid and laryngeal excursion vary with age and volume. Comprising both excursion magnitude and duration, kinematic velocity may be a more complete metric to evaluate age-related swallowing performance.

Identification of swallowing disorders in early and mid‐stage Parkinson's disease using pattern recognition of pharyngeal high‐resolution manometry data

“…This suggests that the group differences seen on videofluoroscopy are relatively stable across volumes, with maximum classification accuracies of 70.7 ± 4.4% for 2 cc swallows (30 hidden nodes), 71.0 ± 5.5% for 10 cc swallows (20 hidden nodes) and 69.2 ± 3.4% for sip swallows (30 hidden nodes). It is well documented that pharyngeal swallowing dynamics change with different measured bolus volumes, including hyolaryngeal excursion, submental muscle activation, pharyngeal movement sequencing and select pharyngeal pressure parameters, including mainly velopharyngeal and UES pressures . While not directly investigated in this study, the relatively stable classification accuracies across 2 and 10 cc swallows may reflect adequate compensation for bolus volume changes in these two groups.…”

Mapping acute lesion locations to physiological swallow impairments after stroke

“…pharyngeal transit time (Logemann et al, 1993), stage transition duration (Daniels et al, 2009)), 10 different distance and area measures (e.g. hyoid excursion (Thompson et al, 2014), pharyngeal constriction ratio (Leonard et al, 2011)), and measures for hyoid speed (Barikroo et al, 2015; Nagy et al, 2015). We found significant lesion-impairment relationships for only three out of 85 timing measures, two out of 50 distance and area measures, and none of the hyoid speed measures.…”

Modulation of Tongue Pressure According to Liquid Flow Properties in Healthy Swallowing

“…Sip volume is commonly controlled, both in swallowing assessment protocols and in research. There are numerous previous reports suggesting that variations in sip volume influence swallowing behaviors (Barikroo, Carnaby, & Crary, 2015; Dantas & Dodds, 1990; Dantas et al, 1990; Dodds et al, 1988; Ertekin et al, 1997; Gumbley, Huckabee, Doeltgen, Witte, & Moran, 2008; Hiss, Treole, & Stuart, 2001; Kahrilas, Lin, Chen, & Logemann, 1996; Molfenter & Steele, 2014; Nagy, Molfenter, Peladeau-Pigeon, Stokely, & Steele, 2014). In this study, we wanted to control for sip volume variations but allow participants to take natural sip sizes.…”