Burdick Ryan J, Dallal-York Justine, Shapira-Galitz Yael
Swallowing & Salivary Bioscience Lab, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Laboratory for the Study of Upper Airway Dysfunction, Department of Biobehavioral SciencesTeachers College, Columbia University, New York City, NY.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2024 Aug 16:1-10. doi: 10.1044/2023_AJSLP-22-00182.
Flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) is not only a well-recognized and ubiquitous tool in dysphagia research but also possesses features that make the assessment vulnerable to shortcomings in transparency and rigor in published literature. Therefore, FEES was considered an important addition to the Framework for RigOr aNd Transparency In REseaRch on Swallowing (FRONTIERS), a multisite collective effort to establish a tool for the critical appraisal of reporting in all forms of dysphagia and swallowing-related research on human subjects.
From the FRONTIERS collective, a team of three clinician researchers completed a review of FEES-related literature to determine all components crucial for generalizable and reproducible reporting of FEES research. These components were developed and refined through an iterative process.
This review culminated in a 26-item series of "yes/no" questions, forming the FEES section of FRONTIERS. These questions are grouped into the following five components: (a) Equipment, (b) Rater(s), (c) Rating Process, (d) Outcome Metrics, and (e) Miscellaneous Factors.
The results of this review support that FEES possesses unique characteristics to other aspects of dysphagia research and is consequently a crucial addition to FRONTIERS to ensure that clinical researchers have access to critical appraisal of FEES-related research inquiry.
吞咽功能的软性内镜评估（FEES）不仅是吞咽困难研究中一种广为人知且普遍使用的工具，而且其某些特性使得已发表文献中的评估在透明度和严谨性方面存在不足。因此，FEES被视为对吞咽研究的严格性和透明度框架（FRONTIERS）的重要补充，FRONTIERS是一项多中心合作项目，旨在建立一种工具，用于对涉及人类受试者的各种形式的吞咽困难及吞咽相关研究报告进行批判性评价。
来自FRONTIERS团队的三名临床研究人员对与FEES相关的文献进行了综述，以确定FEES研究中可推广且可重复报告的所有关键要素。这些要素通过迭代过程得以发展和完善。
本次综述最终形成了一系列由26个“是/否”问题组成的内容，构成了FRONTIERS的FEES部分。这些问题被归为以下五个要素：（a）设备，（b）评估者，（c）评估过程，（d）结果指标，以及（e）其他因素。
本次综述结果表明，FEES与吞咽困难研究的其他方面相比具有独特特征，因此是FRONTIERS的重要补充，以确保临床研究人员能够对与FEES相关的研究进行批判性评价。
