Trial reportJournal of rehabilitation medicine2025
Pharyngeal electrical stimulation to treat dysphagia in acute stroke: learnings from cases in the PhEED clinical trial.
Trial report in Journal of rehabilitation medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Swallowing therapy for dysphagia in acute and subacute stroke.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Neuromuscular-related interventions for post-stroke dysphagia: a comprehensive narrative review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Pharyngeal Electrical Stimulation versus None for Post-Stroke Dysphagia: Rationale, Design, and Protocol for the Parallel Group Superiority Pharyngeal Electrical Stimulation for Acute Stroke Dysphagia Trial (PhEAST) (ISRCTN98886991).Cerebrovascular diseases extra · 2026Article
- Dysphagia in patients with severe stroke: influencing factors and coping strategies.Frontiers in neurologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the efficacy of pharyngeal electrical stimulation in improving dysphagia post-stroke.
designA randomized, sham-controlled, blinded multicentre clinical trial. SUBJECTS/PATIENTS: Seventeen patients with acute ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke experiencing dysphagia, indicated by a penetration aspiration scale score of 4-8 on videofluoroscopy.
methodsSites enrolled 3 open-label roll-in participants and then randomized subsequent participants to either stimulation or sham treatment. Study interventions were delivered for 10 min daily over 3 consecutive days. Prior to data lock the primary outcome was modified to the change in dysphagia severity rating scale from pre-treatment to end of follow-up period. Secondary outcomes included penetration-aspiration scale score assessed via videofluoroscopy 48 h after final treatment and functional oral intake scale, measured at 7, 14, and 83 days post-randomization.
resultsThe trial was halted early due to low recruitment, with 15 participants receiving active stimulation and 2 receiving sham treatment. Active stimulation significantly reduced dysphagia severity at day 83 (difference: -4, p = 0.027). Improvements were observed in diet and supervision subscales, and functional oral intake scores. Of those treated, 67% were discharged home, with no serious adverse events attributable to the intervention noted in either group.
conclusionPharyngeal electrical stimulation was safe and associated with reduced dysphagia severity in stroke patients, warranting further validation in larger studies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.