الفهرس 
Title : Detection of airway protective level of the cough reflex in acute stroke patients
ContantsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background and Purpose: Stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) is a common complication and an important cause of death during hospitalization. In stroke patients the cough reflex may be weak causing accumulation of secretions with consequent respiratory distress because It is still not accurately known the stage at which it is necessary to interfere to protect the airway artificially. Measuring the cough reflex strength and sensitivity can tell when to interfere and take a measure to protect the airway of the stroke patients to avoid respiratory infection in those patients. Methods: This was a Observational prospective study. 101 acute stroke patients undergone the cough challenge test together with swallowing assessment with MASA and they were evaluated after one week of admission for the presence of respiratory infection. Results: Forty patients had respiratory infections, those had lower cough threshold and peak cough flow compared to the other group (p-value = 0.013 and <0.0001 respectively). Conclusions: The cough challenge test is a reliable method to predict post stroke respiratory infection