Establishment of a new evaluation method for swallowing function that quantifies the sensation of a speech-language-hearing therapist's hand

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18H03561
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 90150:Medical assistive technology-related
• Research Institution: Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Science
• Principal Investigator: Takeshima Reiko 茨城県立医療大学, 保健医療学部, 教授 (30188180)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 冨田 和秀 茨城県立医療大学, 保健医療学部, 教授 (00389793) ; 飯塚 眞喜人 昭和大学, 医学部, 准教授 (40274980)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 嚥下センサー / のど仏 / 非侵襲的

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In our previous project (JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 26350663), we developed a flexible polyurethane sensor sheet with piezoelectric pressure sensors embedded at intervals of 3.0 mm. At this research project, the number of sensors was increased to 25 to obtain the distance of movement of the laryngeal prominence which could not be resolved in the previous project. As a result, the estimated distance measured by this sensor sheet tended to be smaller than the distance obtained by the motion analysis of the video taken of a man's throat from the side. The distance of the laryngeal prominence moved varied widely even when the same amount of water was swallowed. However, this research has made it possible to repeatedly measure the moving distance of the laryngeal prominence regardless of gender. There are many patients who suffer from dysphagia due to the aftereffects of cerebral infarction, and this sheet is expected to be applied to swallowing function evaluation of these patients.

Free Research Field

嚥下リハビリテーション

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

誤嚥性肺炎は2019年度の我が国における死因の6位である。嚥下機能評価のゴールドスタンダードは嚥下造影検査による誤嚥の有無の判定であるが大掛かりな装置であり、被曝も問題となる。「食べ物を飲み込む能力」を非侵襲で定量的に繰り返し評価できる手法の確立が喫緊の課題である。嚥下の際に上下運動する「のど仏」の移動距離は嚥下機能の重要な指標であるが測定の複雑さから行われてこなかった。本研究では「のど仏」の移動距離を推測できるセンサーシートの開発に成功した。実用化のための第一歩である。