Georgiou Rafaella, Voniati Louiza, Gryparis Alexandros, Papaleontiou Andri, Ziavra Nafsika, Tafiadis Dionysios
Department of Speech and Language Therapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Department of Health Sciences, Speech and Language Therapy, European University, Nicosia, Cyprus.
J Oral Rehabil. 2025 Mar;52(3):312-319. doi: 10.1111/joor.13900. Epub 2024 Nov 12.
Paediatric dysphagia refers to any feeding and/or swallowing problem that affects nutritional or liquid intake safety or adequacy. There is a prominent lack of available evidence-based effective therapeutic tools to facilitate the rehabilitation of feeding and/or swallowing disorders in children.
The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of focal vibration therapy-Novafon as an assistive therapeutic intervention for children with feeding and swallowing difficulties.
The study involved 122 children with dysphagia who were divided into two groups: (1) 61 children who received conventional dysphagia therapy (cCDTh) and (2) 61 children who received conventional dysphagia therapy in combination with Novafon therapy (cCDTh+NTh). All children were evaluated for pre-, mid- and post-dysphagia therapy with the Gugging Swallowing Screen (GUSS) and Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool-10 (PEDI-EAT-10) in different Cypriot school and health settings.
PEDI-EAT-10 total scores for both groups observed that the cCDTh+NTh group had a significant decrease in the overall median between pre- and post-dysphagia therapy total score (Median = 3.00) compared to the cTDTh score (Median = 7.00). GUSS total scores between the two groups showed an increase in overall medians but the cCDTh+NTh group (Median of pre-therapy = 16.50, mid-therapy = 19.00 and post-therapy = 20.00) noted a higher increase in medians compared to the cCDTh group (Median of pre-therapy = 15.00, mid-therapy = 16.00 and post-therapy = 17.00).
The present study highlights that focal vibration therapy using Novafon may serve as an effective and supportive approach within conventional dysphagia therapy for children. Further research is necessary to enhance the evidence-based literature on the use of Novafon in paediatric dysphagia.
儿童吞咽困难是指任何影响营养或液体摄入安全性或充足性的喂养和/或吞咽问题。目前明显缺乏基于证据的有效治疗工具来促进儿童喂养和/或吞咽障碍的康复。
本研究的目的是评估聚焦振动疗法（诺瓦芬）作为辅助治疗干预措施对有喂养和吞咽困难儿童的有效性。
该研究纳入了122名吞咽困难儿童，分为两组：（1）61名接受传统吞咽困难治疗（cCDTh）的儿童；（2）61名接受传统吞咽困难治疗联合诺瓦芬治疗（cCDTh+NTh）的儿童。在塞浦路斯不同的学校和健康机构中，使用古金吞咽筛查量表（GUSS）和儿科进食评估工具-10（PEDI-EAT-10）对所有儿童在吞咽困难治疗前、治疗中期和治疗后进行评估。
两组的PEDI-EAT-10总分显示，与cTDTh组（中位数=7.00）相比，cCDTh+NTh组在吞咽困难治疗前和治疗后的总分中位数总体上有显著下降（中位数=3.00）。两组之间的GUSS总分显示总体中位数有所增加，但cCDTh+NTh组（治疗前中位数=16.50，治疗中期中位数=19.00，治疗后中位数=20.00）的中位数增加幅度高于cCDTh组（治疗前中位数=15.00，治疗中期中位数=16.00，治疗后中位数=17.00）。
本研究强调，在儿童传统吞咽困难治疗中，使用诺瓦芬的聚焦振动疗法可能是一种有效的支持性方法。有必要进行进一步研究，以加强关于诺瓦芬在儿童吞咽困难中应用的循证文献。
