Objective assessment method of swallowing and cough reflex muscle activities in unrestrained and unconscious situation: its development and evaluation of usefulness

老年人隐匿性误吸性肺炎多见，其预防已成为一个紧迫而具有挑战性的课题。 我们开发了一个客观和方便的测量系统，以评估咳嗽反射，排痰和吞咽肌肉活动，这是无声误吸的防御机制。 此外，我们还检查了我们的系统的实用性。 该系统包括1）实时记录吞咽肌活动的集成肌电图仪，2）具有喉麦克风的IC记录器，用于记录呛咳和吞咽声以及咳嗽反射中发生的音频，3）能够分析长时间EMG和声音数据的分析软件。 通过建立我们的评估方法，我们能够采取措施，对吸入性肺炎引起的无声的吸入。

Pneumonia due to a silent aspiration occurred very often in the elderly patients, and its prevention has become an urgent and challenging issue. We developed an objective and convenient measurement system to assess cough reflex, phlegm expulsion, and swallowing muscle activity, which functioned as defending mechanisms of silent aspiration. In addition, we examined our system in terms of its usefulness. The system constitutes 1) a real-time integrated EMG meter to record swallowing muscle activities, 2) an IC recorder with throat microphone to record choking and swallowing sounds and audio occurred in cough reflex, 3) an analysis software which enables to analyze long-time EMG and sound data. By establishing our assessment method, we are able to take measures against an aspiration pneumonia caused by silent aspiration.