Reliability of Ultrasound Examination of Hyoid Bone Displacement Amplitude: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The objective of this study was to analyze the reliability of measuring hyoid bone displacement amplitude in swallowing with ultrasound. The systematic review encompassed five databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) and gray literature. There was no limitation of language or year of publication. The search/selection/extraction methodology was conducted by two authors blindly and independently, and differences were solved by a third rater. Th ree studies met the eligibility criteria: two of them analyzed the reliability in non-dysphagic populations and the other, in dysphagic patients. The transducer was positioned in the submandibular region in all studies. The authors were not clear about the training time to acquire and analyze ultras ound images. The meta-analysis had an interrater reliability of 0.858 (95% CI: 0.744–0.924) and intrarater reliability of 0.968 (95% CI: 0.903–0.990). There was, however, heterogeneity ofp = 0.005 for intrarater reliability. Despite good reliability, the heterogeneity reinforces the importance of training and protocol standardization for image acquisition and analysis.
Source: Dysphagia - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research