Neurological dysfunctions can affect the muscular activity of the tongue and pharynx and have repercussions on swallowing. Tongue mobility and pharyngeal constriction of 28 post-stroke patients were measured and compared to 19 individuals without dysphagia, and correlated with the presence and / or the degree of dysphagia in post-stroke patients. Tongue mobility, obtained by videofluoroscopic images via the ImageJ program, was determined by the common area obtained from the overlap of the tongue’s traces during the production of the vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/, in relation to the total lingual area. Pharyngeal constriction presented as the ratio between the pharyngeal area filled with air and / or food residue during maximal constriction when swallowing 3 ml of thin liquid in relation to the pharyngeal area at rest. For tongue mobility, the total area was significantly larger in the control group than in the stroke group and, although with no statistical significance, the vowel intersection ratio was higher in the stroke group, suggesting that this group had a lower range of tongue movement. The pharyngeal area at maximal constriction and the pharyngeal constriction ratio were significantly higher in the stroke group, indicating more poor pharyngeal constriction. Also, a statistically significant correlation was observed between dysphagia severity and pharyngeal constriction, demonstrating that the greater the severity of dysphagia, the poorer the pharyngeal constriction. These results suggest that interventions aimed at improving pharyngeal constriction should be considered in the rehabilitation of post-stroke swallowing.
