For immediate release
Stroke patients with swallowing problems show improved recovery with new
treatment, study shows
Manchester, 17 February 2014 – Stroke patients with the inability to swallow safely (dysphagia)
show improved and faster recovery in their swallowing function when using pharyngeal electrical
stimulation (PES) versus sham treatment at three months, according to data published as part of
the paper: Dysphagia Diagnosis and Treatment: A Multidisciplinary Challenge in the journal
Dysphagia. This is the second randomised controlled trial (RCT) to demonstrate the patient
benefit of using PES to treat dysphagia, a common complication of stroke, which affects half of
the more than 15 million stroke victims globally every year.1, 2
Dysphagia, the inability to swallow safely, is a debilitating condition that frequently leads to
potentially life-threatening pneumonia and the surgical implantation of a tube to allow a patient to
be fed through the abdominal wall indefinitely.
Patients in the study were recruited from three centres; Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust,
Trafford General Hospital and University Hospital South Manchester. The trial was funded by
Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB), a national, response-mode programme established to
generate high quality research for the benefit of users of the NHS in England.
An independent and blinded speech and language therapist applied a validated Dysphagia
Severity Rating (DSR) scale to 28 patients at baseline, two weeks and three months postintervention. The DSR scale combines the patient’s ability to swallow with related factors such as
the need for a clinician to be present to supervise the patient during feeding. This scale was
designed to reflect the clinical burden of dysphagia as well as swallowing function.
Manchester-based Phagenesis has developed Phagenyx ®, the only device approved by
European regulatory authorities to deliver PES to patients.
Daniel Green, CEO of Phagenesis, said: “The first randomised controlled trial of PES was
published in 2010 and provided evidence that this treatment speeds up and improves swallowing
recovery post-stroke. This new RCT supports the initial findings and shows that patients continue
to improve at three months. We believe that this additional evidence will encourage doctors to
treat patients who might otherwise face severe consequences of dysphagia.”
Phagenyx is available in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and the UAE.
Ends
1 http://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/en/cvd_atlas_15_burden_stroke.pdf
2 http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/36/12/2756.full.
Notes to Editors
About Phagenyx®
Phagenyx is the only approved treatment system using PES. It delivers a electrical signal
optimised for each patient to the back of the patient’s throat (oropharynx) for 10 minutes a day for
three consecutive days – a procedure which is the result of almost 20 years’ work by Professor
Shaheen Hamdy at the University of Manchester, UK. Phagenesis was formed in 2007 to
translate Professor Hamdy's research into a non-invasive technology suitable for standard clinical
practice in hospitals.
About Phagenesis
Phagenesis is an award-winning, venture-backed medtech company based on the Manchester
Science Park and with operations also in Düsseldorf, Germany. Phagenesis has developed the
first clinically proven treatment for dysphagia, a debilitating and often lethal condition in which the
patient’s ability to swallow is damaged. Dysphagia can lead to the inhalation of solids or liquids
followed by pneumonia. Sufferers may face being fed through a tube indefinitely, reduced life
expectancy, and many are treated for depression. Phagenesis is supported by funding from
Inventages (www.inventages.com), AngloScientfic (www.angloscientific.com) and the Wellcome
Trust (www.wellcome.ac.uk). For more information, please visit www.phagenesis.com.
For more information, please contact:
Daniel Green
daniel.green@phagenesis.com
+44 (0)161 820 4525
+44 (0)161 820 4524
+44 (0)7968 183 512