Researchers from the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Institute are conducting research on how to assist stroke victims repair swallowing functions, which brake down in more than 50 per cent of patients.

 

Speech pathologist Dr Sebastian Doeltgen, who is part of the University's Neuromotor Plasticity & Development Research Group, has been awarded $300,000 in Federal Government funding to investigate revolutionary techniques to treat swallowing disorders.

 

"About 60,000 people suffer strokes each year in Australia alone, with more than 35,000 of these initially experiencing problems with swallowing. That is a huge part of the stroke population who have difficulty eating or drinking and may have to be fed through a tube," Dr Doeltgen said.

 

Dr Doeltgen’s research focuses on using magnetic stimulators to use electrical impulses to stimulate areas of the brain damaged by a stroke. The team is the only one in Australia, and only one of a few in the world, that uses magnetic stimulation for cerebral rehabilitation.  

 

The technique is expected to yield positive results for the treatment of a range of neuro-degenerative disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and Alzheimer's disease.