Food-Grade Activated Charcoal for Contrast-Enhanced Photoacoustic Imaging of Aspiration: A Phantom Study.
Huijuan Zhang, Ahmed Nagy, Corrin Bowman and 5 others
PMID 35224656WHAT IT FOUND
In a neck phantom, photoacoustic imaging detected charcoal solution in a simulated trachea, including thickened liquids and a single drop, while ultrasound signal faded.
This is not yet evidence it can detect aspiration in patients.
Key findings
01In a neck phantom, photoacoustic imaging detected charcoal boluses during simulated aspiration, while ultrasound only detected the initial entry and then lost the signal.
02Photoacoustic imaging detected charcoal solutions at thin, slightly thick, and mildly thick levels, and adding thickener did not reduce detectability.
03The system detected a single charcoal drop of 6.67 ul in the neck phantom.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study used phantoms only, so it cannot show that photoacoustic imaging detects aspiration in patients. There were no human participants, no clinical outcomes, and no comparison with standard bedside or instrumental swallowing assessment in people. The paper did not report how often the method correctly detected or missed simulated aspiration events. The safety and behaviour of aspirated food-grade charcoal in the airway were not tested. The phantom trachea was a fixed tube, so it may not capture the variability of real swallowing anatomy and bolus flow.
Declared interests
Funding was listed as extramural research support from the National Institutes of Health. No author conflict-of-interest statement is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as a new way to detect aspiration in patients. The detection happened only in a neck phantom, and the authors say ex vivo or animal experiments are still needed.