What You Need To Know
Jersey Shore University Medical Center is now providing patients with a new therapy called pharyngeal electrical stimulation, or PES, which is delivered via the Phagenyx Neurostimulation System. Phagenyx helps patients with dysphagia, a common condition following stroke, regain their swallowing function, and ability to eat and drink. The academic medical center is the first in New Jersey, and northeast United States, to provide this therapy.
Kevin Westpy of Howell, recently suffered a stroke. He received life-saving, emergency care at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Jersey Shore University Medical Center; Monmouth & Ocean counties’ New Jersey Department of Health licensed, and Joint Commission certified Comprehensive Stroke Center. Unfortunately, Kevin lost his ability to swallow as a result of the stroke. “I’m very pleased to receive this new therapy to regain my swallowing function from the experts at Jersey Shore, rather than having to travel far from home to receive the therapy,” said Westpy.
Phagenyx PES therapy works by inserting a specialized catheter with built-in electrodes through the nose to provide small electrical pulses to stimulate critical sensory nerves within the throat. Untreated dysphagia presents a clear deficit to quality of life, increases risk of aspiration pneumonia (lung infection when saliva, gastric juices, and/or food enter the lungs) and surgical site infections, which in severe cases can lead to septic shock and death.
Since 2013, the Phagenyx system has become widely adopted in Europe and U.K. with more than 4,000 patients treated commercially, and is an important part of comprehensive stroke care guidelines. It consists of an energy base station and neuro stimulation catheter. The catheter houses two bipolar electrodes that deliver mild electric stimulation to the pharyngeal nerves at the back of the throat to jump start and mobilize swallowing areas of the brain. The catheter is positioned in the patient’s nose and follows natural anatomical paths to the throat and down to the stomach. The catheter also features a secondary function to deliver liquid nutrition while in place, if needed.