ACDF Surgery and Dysphagia: Outcomes from the SPInES Study

Dysphagia after Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) surgery is a widely accepted surgical complication but remains poorly understood and underrepresented in research. In this session we will review ACDF surgery and its potential for disrupting swallowing, and share results from our recently published prospective instrumental study – “SPINES” (Spine surgery Prospective Instrumental Exploration of Swallowing). We will discuss within-subject incidence and point-prevalence rates of dysphagia, as well as changes to swallowing biomechanics and functional outcomes, six-weeks after ACDF surgery.

R. Brynn Jones-Rastelli, M.S., CCC-SLP; BCS-S; CBIS, is a medical speech language pathologist and current doctoral student in the Swallowing Research Lab at New York University, studying under Professor Sonja Molfenter (NYU SRL Principal Investigator). Her research interests are related to the impact of neurologic injury and trauma on the swallowing mechanism. Her current research aims to characterize physiologic changes in swallowing associated with spinal disease and following spinal surgery.…