[en] Background. Dysphagia occurs as a complication in 37-78% of stroke patients and leads to serious problems such as malnutrition, dehydration, aspiration pneumonia or even death. Objetive. The main objective of this review is to determine the efficacy of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) in patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia after stroke who are in acute or subacute phase of this pathology. Methods. A literature review was made using Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Library and Cinahl databases during April 2020. Clinical trials and systematic reviews published in the last 5 years in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese were analized that objectified their results through clinical evaluation scales and instrumental assessment tests to study the physiology of swallowing, the severity of dysphagia, the risk of penetration/aspiration and the suprahyoid musculature strenght, crucial in swallowing act. Outcomes. Eight randomized clinical trials were analyzed, 4 of them showed the effectiveness of NMES in the management of dysphagia, singly and in combination with conventional dysphagia treatment; 2 studies found that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was not effective; and 2 studies showed improvement in dysphagia with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Conclusions. The NMES and tDCS treatments proved to be effective in the management of patients with swallowing disorders as a consequence of an acute or subacute stroke. The efficacy of rTMS treatment was not demonstrated.

[gl] Introducción. A disfaxia é un trastorno que ocorre coma una complicación no 37-78% dos pacientes con accidente cerebrovascular (ACV) e da lugar a problemas graves como a malnutrición, deshidratación, neumonías por aspiración ou incluso a morte. Obxectivo. O obxectivo principal desta revisión é concretar a eficacia dos tratamentos da estimulación eléctrica neuromuscular (NMES, do inglés neuromuscular electrical stimulation) e da estimulación cerebral non invasiva (do inglés non-invasive brain stimulation, NIBS), en pacientes con disfaxia orofarínxea posterior a un accidente cerebral vascular (ACV) que se atopa na fase aguda ou subaguda desta patoloxía. Material e método. Realizouse unha revisión da la literatura empregando as bases de datos Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Library e Cinahl durante o mes de abril de 2020. Analizaronse ensaios clínicos e revisións sistemáticas publicados nos últimos 5 anos nos idiomas inglés, español, francés e portugués que obxectivaron os seus resultados a través de escalas clínicas de evaluación e probas instrumentais de valoración que estudan a fisioloxía da deglución, a severidade da disfaxia, o risco de penetración/aspiración e a forza da musculatura suprahioidea, crucial no acto de deglución. Resultados. Analizaronse 8 ensaios clínicos aleatorizados, 4 deles demostraron a efectividade da NMES no manexo da disfaxia, tanto de forma illada coma en combinación co tratamento convencional da disfaxia; 2 estudos comprobaron que a estimulación magnética transcraneal repetitiva (do inglés repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS) non resultou eficaz no seu manexo; e 2 estudos evidenciaron a mellora da disfaxia coa estimulación transcraneal directa (do inglés transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS). Conclusións. Os tratamentos NMES e tDCS demostraron ser eficaces no manexo de pacientes con trastornos deglutorios como consecuencia dun ACV en fase aguda o subaguda. Non se demostrou a eficacia do tratamento rTMS.