Clinical Symptoms and Modified Barium Swallow (MBS) Score in Evaluation of Pediatric Patients with Dysphagia and Aspiration

Abstract

Dysphagia with aspiration (DA) is the most common presenting symptom of patients at Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s Aerodigestive Clinic (ADC). Dysphagia with aspiration is associated with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, chronic oral thickener use to prevent aspiration, secondary constipation, and occasionally, enteral tube dependency. MBS is considered the gold standard in instrumental assessment of dysphagia; it is used to evaluate severity and guide thickener treatment of DA patients, monitor progress with serial studies, and for re‐evaluation after intervention when appropriate. Previous evaluation of patients with deep interarytenoid notch given laryngoplasty injection included patients with improvement in symptoms despite post‐intervention MBS scores worsening, and vice versa, challenging the use of MBS as a longitudinal tool in clinical evaluation of patients with dysphagia and aspiration. Is MBS severity score reflective of clinical symptoms in pediatric patients with dysphagia and aspiration? A clinical questionnaire of DA symptoms was developed with input from the ADC physicians. The questionnaire was administered over 3 months to patients aged 1‐3 years who had an MBS evaluation within 6 months of their initial ADC visit, standard of care for patients with DA. 17 symptoms (12 GI and 5 pulmonary) were given a numerical score 0‐4 based on parent recall of frequency. MBS was scored 1‐10 on the thickness of liquid recommended for aspiration prevention. Individual symptoms and symptom sets (total questionnaire score, GI score, pulmonary score) were compared to MBS score using linear regression model. 30 patients were surveyed with median MBS score of 6 and range from 0 to 8. 18 patients had an MBS score above 6. Median questionnaire score was 18, with a range from 4 to 53. All analysis showed no significant correlation between individual symptoms or symptom sets and MBS score; the highest R2 value for any individual symptoms was 0.05. Among ADC patients with DA, MBS severity score did not correlate with severity or specificity of symptoms, questioning the use of MBS as a tool for diagnosing severity of persistent DA or as a repetitive tool in assessing response to laryngeal cleft surgical interventions and thickener wean therapy. These findings challenge the use of repetitive MBS in the ADC patient population. Our ultimate goal is to develop a combined clinical and radiologic tool that would minimize radiation exposure and unnecessary thickener treatment while promoting best clinical outcomes.