Preliminary Ultrasound Observation of Lingual Movement Patterns During Nutritive versus Non-nutritive Sucking in a Premature Infant (original) (raw)

Abstract

Term neonates must suck, swallow, and respire in a coordinated manner during successful oral feeding. When infants are born prematurely, these skills may not be fully mature. To stimulate sucking responses, premature infants are offered pacifiers under the premise that non-nutritive sucking experiences facilitate oral feeding readiness. This case reported examined the lingual-hyoid mechanics of non-nutritive suck (NNS) patterns with a pacifier versus nutritive suck (NS) during a bottle feed in a premature infant using a noninvasive ultrasound imaging technique as a pilot to discern aspects of oral feeding candidacy. Lingual patterns during NS resulted in significantly greater displacements and excursions than NNS (p < 0.0001) in both anterior and posterior regions of the tongue (p < 0.0001). In addition, the angle of hyoid movement during NNS was significantly smaller (p < 0.05) than the angle recorded during NS tasks. Unlike an expected neonatal sucking pattern of horizontal anterior-posterior movements of the tongue body, vertical tongue body excursions occurred as described in the literature of representing a 6–9-month developmental skill level. Through the integration of semiautomatic computerized analyses of tongue surface configurations and hyoid activity, these data may enhance knowledge of oral swallowing function in developing preterm neonates.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the participants of this pilot study and the technical assistance of J. S. Cheng, M.Sc., in the creation of MATLAB subroutines used in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Physical Disabilities Branch, The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
    Jeri L. Miller PhD & Seon M. Kang BS
  2. Rehabilitation Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 10 CRC RM 1-1469, 10 Center Drive MSC 1604, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-1604, USA
    Jeri L. Miller PhD

Authors

  1. Jeri L. Miller PhD
  2. Seon M. Kang BS

Corresponding author

Correspondence toJeri L. Miller PhD.

Additional information

The Physical Disabilities Branch is a collaboration between the Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH.

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Miller, J.L., Kang, S.M. Preliminary Ultrasound Observation of Lingual Movement Patterns During Nutritive versus Non-nutritive Sucking in a Premature Infant.Dysphagia 22, 150–160 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-006-9058-z

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