Changes in Cardiac Function During a Swallow Exercise Program in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Research regarding risks of swallow treatment suggests that patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) experience changes in heart rate/rhythm when completing the supraglottic swallow and super-supraglottic swallow. The current study evaluated cardiac function during multiple swallowing exercises in patients with dysphagia and CAD. Eligible patients had CAD and confirmed pharyngeal dysphagia from VFS and sufficient cognitive ability to follow direction. The protocol included an a priori concealed randomized order of seven swallowing exercises (supraglottic swallow, super-supraglottic swallow, Mendelsohn and Masako maneuvers, effortful swallow with and without breath hold, and jaw opening exercise). Objective measures of heart rate/rhythm, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure were compared before vs after the overall session and each exercise using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and McNemar’s and Cochran’s Q tests with alpha at 0.05 and power at 0.80. Participants were 20 adults (15 male), aged 28–88 (median 76.5 years). 90% were intubated during their hospital stay (44% > 1 intubation) and 20% suffered post-op stroke. Severe dysphagia, marked by NPO status, occurred in 30% of patients. Sessions were 26 min long (mean; SD = 2.29). With few exceptions, objective measures were stable pre vs post overall and after each exercise. Potential vulnerability was noted with increased heart rate after the super-supraglottic swallow and increased arrhythmias after the effortful swallow (p < 0.05 for both). The order that swallowing exercises were completed did not significantly impact cardiovascular function. Telemetry and pulse oximetry proved to be feasible tools to monitor for subtle changes in cardiovascular function during completion of swallowing exercises.