Ultrasonography for Eating and Swallowing Assessment: A Narrative Review of Integrated Insights for Noninvasive Clinical Practice

Abstract

Dysphagia is a syndrome of abnormal eating function resulting from a variety of causative diseases, and is associated with malnutrition. To date, the swallowing function has been difficult to examine without the use of invasive and expensive methods, such as the videofluorographic swallowing study or fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. In recent years, progress has been made in the clinical application of ultrasound equipment for the evaluation of body compositions near the body surface, including the assessment of nutritional status. Ultrasound examination is a noninvasive procedure and relatively inexpensive, and the equipment required is highly portable thanks to innovations such as wireless probes and tablet monitoring devices. The process of using ultrasound to visualize the geniohyoid muscle, digastric muscle, mylohyoid muscle, hyoid bone, tongue, masseter muscle, genioglossus muscle, orbicularis oris muscle, temporalis muscle, pharynx, esophagus, and larynx, and the methods used for evaluating these structures, are provided in this study in detail. This study also aims to propose a protocol for the assessment of swallowing-related muscles that can be applied in real-world clinical practice for the diagnosis of sarcopenic dysphagia, which can occur in elderly patients with sarcopenia, and has received much attention in recent years.

Advancements and Challenges in Non-Invasive Sensor Technologies for Swallowing Assessment: A Review

“…The measurement results obtained from the DNN tracker were highly consistent with those from manual tracking. K. Maeda et al [132] introduced in detail the process of visualizing and evaluating the structures of mylohyoid muscle, digastric muscle, hyoid muscle, hyoid bone, tongue, masseter muscle, maxillohyoid muscle, orbicularis oris muscle, temporalis muscle, pharynx, esophagus and larynx using ultrasonic images. Based on the extensive experience of ultrasound in neuromuscular diseases, some researchers explained the concept of oral muscle ultrasound and its practical value in the assessment of neuromuscular chewing and swallowing problems [130].…”