Conclusions
Although the clinical presentation of dysphagia may be similar between ABI and stroke, the rehabilitation needs and appropriate treatment approaches for these two groups may be unique due to differing underlying pathophysiology. Therefore, it is important to collate the number and type of interventions specifically treated in individuals with ABI. This information is important for clinicians who are providing therapy for those with ABI. Traditionally, rehabilitative management for dysphagia in ABI have been guided by the stroke literature; however, the generalizability of stroke dysphagia interventions to those with ABI is unknown. To ensure rehabilitation interventions with the strongest research evidence are offered to patients, therapists must be aware of the options available to them. This review has succinctly summarized the available literature, in terms of number, intervention type, population studied, and outcomes assessed.
This scoping review has identified a number of gaps for which future studies should investigate dysphagia rehabilitation interventions in ABI that 1) utilize high-quality study design methodology, 2) further investigate the effect of multimodal interventions, and 3) consider using standardized and/or validated outcome measures to allow for more accurate comparisons of findings across studies investigating similar interventions. Furthermore, to establish an evidence base for dysphagia rehabilitation specifically in ABI, and to determine the generalizability of dysphagia interventions from the stroke literature to individuals with ABI, future studies should strive to recruit more homogeneous brain injury populations or stratify results by etiology when assessing treatment effectiveness.