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Purpose: The aims of this study were to assess the effects of 0.2 mL of 4% atomized lidocaine on swallowing and tolerability during Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES)., Methods: A single blinded study was conducted with 17 dysphagic patients, who received 4 standardized boluses in 2 sequential FEES exams under 2 conditions: non-anesthetized (decongestant only) and anesthetized (lidocaine 4%+decongestant). After each procedure, patients rated their pain on the Wong Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale. Clinicians scored each swallow with the Penetration Aspiration Scale (PAS) and an author-developed Residue Rating Scale. Because the assessments were ordinal, a series of Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted to detect differences between the 2 conditions., Results: No significant differences were detected between groups on PAS or residue in the 4 boluses. Pain scores, however, were significantly lower in the anesthetized condition than the decongested-only condition (P=.035)., Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that 0.2 mL of 4% lidocaine enhanced exam tolerability and did not impair the swallow in dysphagic patients., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Objectives: Sensation is an integral component of laryngeal control for breathing, swallowing, and vocalization. Laryngeal sensation is assessed by elicitation of the laryngeal adductor reflex (LAR), a brainstem-mediated adduction of the true vocal folds. During Flexible Endoscopic Evaluations of Swallowing (FEES), the touch method can be used to elicit the LAR to judge laryngeal sensation. Despite the prevalence of this method in clinical practice and research, prior studies have yet to examine inter- and intra-rater reliability. Methods: Four speech-language pathologists rated 125 randomized video clips for the presence, absence, or inability to rate the LAR. Fifty percent of video clips were re-randomized and re-rated 1 week later. Raters then created guidelines and participated in formal consensus training sessions on a separate set of videos. Ratings were repeated post-training. Results: Overall inter-rater reliability was fair (κ = 0.22) prior to training. Pre-training intra-rater reliability ranged from fair (κ = 0.35) to almost perfect (κ = 0.89). Inter-rater reliability significantly improved after training (κ = 0.42, P <.001), though agreement did not reach prespecified acceptable levels (κ ≥ 0.80). Post-training intra-rater reliability ranged from moderate (κ = 0.49) to almost perfect (κ = 0.85). Conclusion: Adequate inter-rater reliability was not achieved when rating isolated attempts to elicit the LAR. Acceptable within-rater reliability was observed in some raters 1 week after initial ratings, suggesting that ratings may remain consistent within raters over a short period of time. Limitations and considerations for future research using the touch method are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study concerning the effects of 0.2 milliliter (mL) of four percent atomized lidocaine on the swallowing function of dysphagic patients and their tolerability during Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES), considered as one of the leading instrumental assessments of swallowing function. The researchers concluded that 0.2 mL of four percent lidocaine can enhance tolerability and cannot affect the dysphagic patients' swallowing function.