Med Head Education – NMES Technology will focus on developing, testing and implementing a new form of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) geared specifically towards the treatment of dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) in individuals who have been treated for head and neck cancer (HNCA). Med Head Education – NMES Technology aims to create a customized NMES waveform to address the unique underlying physiologic impairments resulting from HNCA treatment.
Currently, individuals with swallowing disorders following treatment for HNCA are treated using the same protocols that have been developed for individuals with neurological impairments (i.e. stroke). The HNCA population; however, presents with several unique issues related to swallow function, including: loss or reduction of salivary function, structural changes/deformities, reconstruction using free flaps, and tissue, vascular, and cellular changes as a result of chemotherapy and radiation. NMES is an adjunct modality that has been used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to treat swallowing disorders since the early 2000s. The NMES waveforms currently used for swallowing disorders, were developed based on neurological dysfunction. As a result, patients who have been treated for HNCA often do not achieve the same degree of improvement in function and quality of life (QOL) as their neurological counterparts. There is a clear need for development of an NMES waveform and device to administer this valuable modality to individuals with swallowing problems as a result of their treatment for HNCA. Med Head Education – NMES Technology would use the funds and support gained through JAZ tank to complete the necessary research and development to make this technology a reality for the estimated 59,340 Americans diagnosed with HNCA each year (Cancer.net, 2015, http://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/head-and-neck-cancer/statistics).
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