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Ultrasound imaging of infant swallowing during breast-feeding

Donna T Geddes1, Lynda M Chadwick, Jacqueline C Kent

  • 1Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, School of Biomedical and Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. donna.geddes@uwa.edu.au

Dysphagia
|July 24, 2009
PubMed

Insights

This study developed a noninvasive ultrasound method to visualize infant swallowing. The technique accurately detects swallowing patterns in breast-feeding infants, aiding in the assessment of feeding difficulties.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric feeding
  • Infant physiology
  • Medical imaging

Background:

  • Infant feeding relies on coordinated suck-swallow-breathing patterns.
  • Assessing these patterns is challenging and invasive, especially in young breast-fed infants.
  • Current methods lack noninvasive visualization of the swallowing process.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop an ultrasound technique for visualizing swallowing in term breast-feeding infants.
  • To assess the accuracy of ultrasound imaging of swallowing compared to respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP).

Main Methods:

  • Utilized ultrasound to visualize the movement of breast milk boluses during swallowing.
  • Compared ultrasound findings with data from respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP).

Main Results:

  • Ultrasound successfully visualized the breast milk bolus as an echogenic area moving inferiorly.
  • A high correlation (R(2) = 0.98) was found between 388 ultrasound-detected swallows and 379 RIP-detected swallow apneas.
  • The mean swallow duration was measured at 0.63 ± 0.06 seconds.

Conclusions:

  • Ultrasound imaging provides a noninvasive and accurate method for detecting swallowing in breast-feeding infants.
  • Visualization of the milk bolus through the pharynx offers valuable insights.
  • This technique may assist in evaluating infants with feeding challenges.

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