Swallowing ability evaluation device and program

Abstract

To provide a swallowing ability evaluation device capable of evaluating a recovery possibility of swallowing ability of subjects with dysphagia, and a program.SOLUTION: A swallowing ability evaluation device 1 includes: a vascular stiffness value acquisition unit 113 for acquiring a recumbent-position vascular stiffness value representing vascular stiffness measured in a recumbent position and an inclined-position vascular stiffness value representing vascular stiffness measured in an inclined position in a head up-tilt test; and an evaluation unit 114 for comparing a magnitude relation between the recumbent-position vascular stiffness value and the inclined-position vascular stiffness value, and evaluating a recovery possibility of swallowing ability of a subject with dysphagia based on a comparison result. Alternatively, when the inclined-position vascular stiffness value is equal to or less than the recumbent-position vascular stiffness value, the evaluation unit 114 evaluates that the recovery possibility is low.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a swallowing ability evaluation device and program, and more particularly to a swallowing ability evaluation device and program for evaluating the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of a subject with a swallowing disorder. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, various methods for evaluating the swallowing ability of a subject have been developed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for performing frequency analysis of swallowing vibration data acquired by swallowing vibration measurement related to the swallowing sound and / or the respiratory sound accompanying the swallowing action of a subject, and evaluating the swallowing ability of the subject based on an index related to a high frequency region and an index related to a low frequency region.

[0003] Patent document 2 discloses a swallowing ability measurement system that obtains the movement speed of the walls of tubular organs inside the neck and the movement speed of food passing through the tubular organs based on ultrasound video, which is a video of the inside of the neck taken by ultrasound. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-74257 [Patent Document 2] JP 2020-89613 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The swallowing ability evaluation includes evaluations to grasp the subject's current swallowing ability, as well as evaluations regarding the likelihood that a subject with a swallowing disorder for some reason will recover his / her swallowing ability in the future. The methods in Patent Documents 1 and 2 both evaluate the subject's current swallowing ability using information obtained when the subject swallows. Therefore, when a subject is in a state where it is difficult to swallow and it is to be evaluated whether or not the subject will be able to recover his / her swallowing ability in the future, it is difficult to use these swallowing ability evaluation methods.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and aims to provide a swallowing ability evaluation device and program that can evaluate the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of a subject with a swallowing disorder. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, a swallowing ability evaluation device according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises: a vascular stiffness value acquiring unit that acquires a supine position vascular stiffness value representing the vascular stiffness measured in a supine position in the head-up tilt test and an inclined position vascular stiffness value representing the vascular stiffness measured in an inclined position; and an evaluation unit that compares the magnitude relationship between the supine position vascular stiffness value and the inclined position vascular stiffness value and evaluates the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of a subject having a swallowing disorder based on a comparison result, The evaluation unit evaluates that the possibility of recovery is low when the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value is equal to or less than the supine position blood vessel stiffness value.

[0008] In addition, the swallowing ability evaluation device an additional information acquisition unit that acquires information on at least one of the subject's persistent vegetative state, cognitive function, and nutritional state; When the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value is greater than the supine position blood vessel stiffness value, If the subject has a persistent vegetative state, the possibility of recovery is evaluated as low; If the subject does not have persistent vegetative state, and the subject's cognitive function is impaired and the subject's nutritional state is poor, the possibility of recovery is evaluated as being moderate; If the subject does not have persistent vegetative state, the cognitive function of the subject is not deteriorated, and the nutritional state of the subject is good, the subject is evaluated as having a high possibility of recovery. This may also be the case.

[0009] In addition, the tilted vascular stiffness value is an average value from the completion of tilt in the head-up tilt test to an elapsed time of 2 minutes or more and 5 minutes or less. This may also be the case.

[0010] Moreover, the inclination angle in the inclined position is 10° or more and 30° or less. This may also be the case.

[0011] In addition, the swallowing ability evaluation device A biological signal acquisition unit that acquires a blood pressure and a volume pulse wave of the subject; a storage unit that stores a vascular stiffness model that represents a relationship between the blood pressure and the volume pulse wave and the vascular stiffness; A calculation unit that calculates the blood vessel stiffness, The calculation unit calculates the supine position vascular stiffness value and the inclined position vascular stiffness value based on the blood pressure and the volume pulse wave acquired by the biological signal acquisition unit and a vascular stiffness model stored in the storage unit, The blood vessel stiffness value acquisition unit acquires the supine position blood vessel stiffness value and the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value calculated by the calculation unit. This may also be the case.

[0012] Moreover, the program according to the second aspect of the present invention comprises: Computer, a vascular stiffness value acquiring unit for acquiring a supine position vascular stiffness value representing the vascular stiffness measured in a supine position in the head-up tilt test and an inclined position vascular stiffness value representing the vascular stiffness measured in an inclined position; an evaluation unit that compares the magnitude relationship between the supine position vascular stiffness value and the inclined position vascular stiffness value, and evaluates that the swallowing ability of the subject with dysphagia is unlikely to recover if the inclined position vascular stiffness value is equal to or less than the supine position vascular stiffness value; Function as. Effect of the Invention

[0013] According to the swallowing ability evaluation device and program of the present invention, the possibility of recovery of swallowing ability is evaluated based on changes in vascular stiffness during a head-up tilt test, making it possible to easily evaluate the possibility of recovery of swallowing ability even for subjects who have difficulty swallowing. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a swallowing ability evaluation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] Graph showing changes in heart rate and peripheral vascular stiffness during the head-up tilt test. [Diagram 3] 1 is a graph showing changes in peripheral vascular stiffness in a head-up tilt test in a healthy subject group and a patient group. [Figure 4] 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of swallowing ability evaluation according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a violin diagram showing an example of the relationship between the tilt angle and the amount of change in vascular stiffness in a head-up tilt test in a healthy subject. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of a swallowing ability evaluation device according to a second embodiment. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of swallowing ability evaluation according to the second embodiment. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of evaluation processing according to the second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] (Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a swallowing ability evaluation device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in the functional block diagram of Fig. 1, the swallowing ability evaluation device 1 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a display unit 13, and an input unit 14, and is connected to an external sensor 30.

[0016] The sensor 30 acquires a biosignal for measuring the vascular stiffness of the subject. The acquired biosignal is a time series signal used to calculate the vascular stiffness, such as an electrocardiogram indicating cardiac activity, blood pressure, and a volume pulse wave indicating a change in the volume of blood vessels. In this embodiment, the blood pressure and volume pulse wave of the subject's hand are acquired as biosignals, and the peripheral vascular stiffness is calculated using the acquired blood pressure and volume pulse wave. The shape, structure, etc. of the sensor 30 are not particularly limited, but the sensor 30 that can acquire a biosignal while changing the subject's posture by a head-up tilt test is used.

[0017] The control unit 11 is composed of a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc., and controls the operation of the swallowing ability evaluation device 1. The control unit 11 also calculates blood vessel stiffness based on a biosignal acquired by the sensor 30 and a calculation model of blood vessel stiffness (hereinafter referred to as the blood vessel stiffness model) previously stored in the storage unit 12. The control unit 11 loads various operation programs and data stored in the ROM, storage unit 12, etc. of the control unit 11 into the RAM and operates the CPU, thereby realizing each function of the control unit 11 shown in FIG. 1. As a result, the control unit 11 operates as a biosignal acquisition unit 111, a calculation unit 112, a blood vessel stiffness value acquisition unit 113, and an evaluation unit 114.

[0018] The biosignal acquiring unit 111 controls the sensor 30 to acquire a biosignal of the subject. The acquired biosignal is also transmitted to the storage unit 12 for storage. In this embodiment, a plurality of sensors 30 are used to simultaneously acquire a plurality of biosignals, i.e., blood pressure and volume pulse wave.

[0019] The calculation unit 112 calculates the vascular stiffness based on the biological signal acquired from the sensor 30 by the biological signal acquisition unit 111 and the vascular stiffness model. As a method for calculating the vascular stiffness, for example, a known method such as the method described in JP 2021-129896 A and JP 2022-000065 A can be used.

[0020] The vascular stiffness value acquisition unit 113 acquires from the calculation unit 112 a supine position vascular stiffness value, which is the vascular stiffness calculated in the supine position in the head-up tilt test, and an inclined position vascular stiffness value, which is the vascular stiffness calculated in the inclined position.

[0021] The evaluation unit 114 compares the magnitude relationship between the supine position blood vessel stiffness value and the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value acquired by the blood vessel stiffness value acquisition unit 113. Specifically, it compares whether the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value is larger than the supine position blood vessel stiffness value. This makes it possible to determine whether the subject's blood vessel stiffness has increased due to the tilt motion in the head-up tilt test.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of changes in the subject's heart rate and peripheral vascular stiffness during the head-up tilt test. As shown in FIG. 2, the heart rate does not change significantly when the tilt angle of the head-up tilt test is 30°, but increases significantly when the tilt angle is 70°. In contrast, an increase in peripheral vascular stiffness can be confirmed even at a tilt angle of 30°. Therefore, vascular stiffness is considered to be an index that can accurately evaluate the subject's autonomic nerve activity compared to the heart rate.

[0023] FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of the results of measuring the change in peripheral vascular stiffness in a head-up tilt test in a patient group with impaired autonomic nerve activity and a healthy subject group. As shown in FIG. 3, in the healthy subject group, a change in vascular stiffness is observed by a head-up tilt test at a tilt angle of 30°. In contrast, in the patient group, no significant difference in vascular stiffness was observed by the head-up tilt test. From this result, it is considered that an increase in vascular stiffness due to tilting can be an indicator of good autonomic nerve activity of the subject, and can be used as an indicator for evaluating the possibility of recovery of swallowing ability. The evaluation unit 114 evaluates the possibility of recovery of the subject's swallowing ability from the result of comparing the above-mentioned supine position vascular stiffness value and tilt position vascular stiffness value.

[0024] The storage unit 12 is a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk or a flash memory, and stores the vascular stiffness model, the supine position vascular stiffness value calculated by the calculation unit 112, the inclined position vascular stiffness value, and the like.

[0025] The display unit 13 is a display device, such as a liquid crystal panel, provided in the swallowing ability evaluation device 1. The display unit 13 displays the biosignals acquired by the sensor 30, the supine position vascular stiffness value, the inclined position vascular stiffness value, and the like, calculated by the calculation unit 112.

[0026] The input unit 14 is an input device for inputting instructions to start and end acquisition of biological signals, a vascular stiffness model for estimating vascular stiffness, etc. The input unit 14 is a keyboard, a mouse, etc. provided in the swallowing ability evaluation device 1.

[0027] Next, a method for evaluating the possibility of recovery of swallowing ability using the swallowing ability evaluation device 1 will be specifically described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0028] First, in the measurement process, a measurer such as a doctor sets an examination table for a head-up tilt test in a supine position (step S11). Then, the measurer attaches the sensor 30 for measuring arterial blood pressure and fingertip volume pulse wave to the subject on the examination table. The measurer operates the input unit 14 to start acquiring the arterial blood pressure and fingertip volume pulse wave. The biosignal acquisition unit 111 controls the sensor 30 in response to an instruction to start acquiring the biosignal to measure the arterial blood pressure and fingertip volume pulse wave (step S12). The biosignal acquisition unit 111 transmits the acquired biosignal data, that is, the arterial blood pressure and fingertip volume pulse wave data, to the storage unit 12 and stores them in the storage unit 12.

[0029] Next, the calculation unit 112 calculates a supine position vascular stiffness value, which is the vascular stiffness in the supine position, based on the biosignal data acquired by the biosignal acquisition unit 111 and a vascular stiffness model pre-stored in the memory unit 12, and stores the calculated value in the memory unit 12 (step S13).

[0030] As a method for calculating the vascular stiffness, a known method can be used as described above, and the vascular stiffness according to this embodiment is calculated using the arterial blood pressure and fingertip volume pulse wave measured in step S11 and a vascular stiffness model input in advance. The calculation unit 112 stores the calculated vascular stiffness in the storage unit 12 as a supine position vascular stiffness value.

[0031] When the measurement in the supine position is completed, the examiner tilts the examination table for the head-up tilt test to set it to an inclined position (step S14). In general, the head-up tilt test is performed at a tilt angle of 30° or 70°. However, subjects with dysphagia may not have good autonomic nerve activity, and a large tilt angle may cause disorders such as fainting and dizziness. Therefore, in order to confirm autonomic nerve activity by measuring vascular stiffness, it is preferable that the tilt angle is small and the burden on the subject's body is small.

[0032] In addition, in order to confirm the degree of autonomic nerve activity by the head-up tilt test, it is required that the change in vascular stiffness occurs to a measurable extent between the supine position and the tilted position. FIG. 5 is a violin diagram showing an example of the relationship between the tilt angle and the change in vascular stiffness in a head-up tilt test of a healthy subject. As shown in FIG. 5, the change in vascular stiffness due to head-up tilt begins to appear at a tilt angle of about 10° and becomes clear at a tilt angle range of 20° to 30°. Considering the test results in FIG. 5 and the load on the subject, the tilt angle is preferably 10° to 30°, and more preferably 20° to 30°.

[0033] When the tilt of the examination table is completed, the measurer inputs the start of measurement from the input unit 14 and immediately starts measuring the vascular stiffness, which becomes the tilted vascular stiffness value. In response to the instruction to start acquiring the biological signal, the biological signal acquisition unit 111 controls the sensor 30 to acquire the arterial blood pressure and the fingertip volume pulse wave (step S15). The biological signal acquisition unit 111 transmits the acquired data of the biological signal to the storage unit 12, and causes the storage unit 12 to store it.

[0034] Next, the calculation unit 112 calculates an inclined position vascular stiffness value, which is the vascular stiffness in an inclined position, based on the data of the biological signal acquired by the biological signal acquisition unit 111 and the vascular stiffness model pre-stored in the storage unit 12, and stores the calculated value in the storage unit 12 (step S16). The calculation method of the inclined position vascular stiffness value is the same as the calculation method of the supine position vascular stiffness value in step S13.

[0035] When the examination table is tilted so that the head rises in the head-up tilt test, the vascular stiffness increases due to the action of the autonomic nerves, and the vascular stiffness returns to a normal value over time. For example, a head-up tilt test for syncope generally performed in a cardiology department is performed for 30 to 40 minutes with the head elevated at 70°. In this embodiment, the vascular stiffness, which is highly sensitive to the autonomic nerve activity, is used as an index, and the vascular stiffness is measured as an average value from the completion of tilt in the head-up tilt test to 2 to 5 minutes. This makes it possible to clearly and stably observe the autonomic nerve activity accompanying the head-up tilt as a change in vascular stiffness, reduce the physical burden on the subject, and perform measurement in a short time.

[0036] When the measurement of vascular stiffness in the supine and inclined positions is completed, the measurer ends the head-up tilt test and inputs a command to start the evaluation from the input unit 14. When the command to start the evaluation is input, the swallowing ability evaluation device 1 starts an evaluation process for evaluating the possibility of recovery of the subject's swallowing ability. More specifically, the vascular stiffness value acquisition unit 113 reads out from the storage unit 12 the vascular stiffness value in the supine position and the vascular stiffness value in the inclined position derived in steps S13 and S16.

[0037] Next, the evaluation unit 114 compares the read supine position blood vessel stiffness value and inclined position blood vessel stiffness value to determine which is larger. Specifically, the evaluation unit 114 compares whether the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value is larger than the supine position blood vessel stiffness value (step S17).

[0038] The evaluation unit 114 evaluates the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of the subject based on the comparison result of step S17 (step S18). Specifically, when the inclined position vascular stiffness value is not larger than the supine position vascular stiffness value, that is, when the inclined position vascular stiffness value is equal to or smaller than the supine position vascular stiffness value, the evaluation unit 114 evaluates that the possibility of recovery is low, and causes the display unit 13 to display the evaluation result and the storage unit 12 to store it.

[0039] In addition, if the inclined position vascular stiffness value is greater than the supine position vascular stiffness value, the evaluation unit 114 evaluates that there is a high possibility of recovery, and displays the evaluation result on the display unit 13 and stores it in the memory unit 12.

[0040] As described above, the swallowing ability evaluation device 1 of this embodiment evaluates the possibility of recovery of swallowing ability based on changes in vascular stiffness during a head-up tilt test, making it possible to easily evaluate the possibility of recovery of swallowing ability even for subjects who are in a state where swallowing is difficult.

[0041] In addition, in the swallowing ability evaluation device 1 according to the present embodiment, the inclined position vascular stiffness value is the average value from the completion of tilt in the head-up tilt test to 2 minutes or more and 5 minutes or less. Therefore, it is possible to clearly and stably observe the autonomic nerve activity accompanying the head-up tilt as a change in vascular stiffness.

[0042] In this embodiment, the tilt angle in the head-up tilt test is set in the range of 10° to 30°. This reduces the burden on the subject's body during the head-up tilt test, and allows the blood vessel stiffness value at the tilt position to be obtained safely.

[0043] (Embodiment 2) In the above-mentioned embodiment 1, the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of the subject is evaluated based on the change in vascular stiffness in the head-up tilt test, but the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability can also be evaluated using other evaluation indexes in addition to the change in vascular stiffness. In this embodiment, a swallowing ability evaluation device 2 that evaluates the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability using information on the subject's persistent consciousness disorder, cognitive function, nutritional state, etc. in addition to the change in vascular stiffness will be described.

[0044] This embodiment differs from embodiment 1 in that a control unit 11′ acquires information on the subject's persistent vegetative state, cognitive function, nutritional state, etc., and performs swallowing ability evaluation based on the acquired information. Otherwise, the configuration of the swallowing ability evaluation device 2 is similar to that of the swallowing ability evaluation device 1 according to embodiment 1, and therefore the same reference numerals are used and the description is omitted.

[0045] As shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 6, the control unit 11' of the swallowing ability evaluation device 2 according to this embodiment is different from the control unit 11 of the swallowing ability evaluation device 1 according to the first embodiment in that it includes an additional information acquisition unit 115. The additional information acquisition unit 115 acquires information on the subject's health condition including neuropsychology, higher brain function, and the like. Specifically, the additional information acquisition unit 115 acquires information on at least one of the subject's persistent conscious disorder, cognitive function, and nutritional state. In this embodiment, all of the subject's persistent conscious disorder, cognitive function, and nutritional state are acquired as additional information to evaluate the possibility of recovery of the subject's swallowing ability.

[0046] 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of swallowing ability evaluation according to this embodiment. Steps S31 to S37 are similar to steps S11 to S17 in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

[0047] After comparing the vascular stiffness in step S37, the swallowing ability evaluation apparatus 1 displays a message prompting input of additional information on the display unit 13. The measurer inputs the additional information of the subject from the input unit 14. The additional information acquisition unit 115 acquires the input additional information (step S38).

[0048] Next, the evaluation unit 114 evaluates the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of the subject (step S39). Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing a detailed flow of the evaluation process of step S39.

[0049] In step S37, if the inclined position vascular stiffness value is not larger than the supine position vascular stiffness value, i.e., if the inclined position vascular stiffness value is less than or equal to the supine position vascular stiffness value (YES in step S51), the evaluation unit 114 evaluates that the possibility of recovery is low (step S52) and displays the evaluation result on the display unit 13 and stores it in the memory unit 12.

[0050] In addition, if the inclined position vascular stiffness value is greater than the supine position vascular stiffness value (NO in step S51) and the input additional information determines that the subject has persistent vegetative state (YES in step S53), the evaluation unit 114 evaluates that the possibility of recovery is low (step S52), and displays the evaluation result on the display unit 13 and stores it in the memory unit 12.

[0051] Furthermore, if the inclined position vascular stiffness value is greater than the supine position vascular stiffness value (NO in step S51), and if the input additional information indicates that the subject does not have persistent vegetative state (NO in step S53), and the subject is judged to have impaired cognitive function and poor nutritional status (YES in step S54), the evaluation unit 114 evaluates that the possibility of recovery is moderate (step S55), and displays the evaluation result on the display unit 13 and stores it in the memory unit 12.

[0052] Furthermore, if the inclined position vascular stiffness value is greater than the supine position vascular stiffness value (NO in step S51), and if it is determined from the input additional information that the subject does not have persistent vegetative state (NO in step S53), that the cognitive function of the subject is not impaired, and that the nutritional status is good (NO in step S54), the evaluation unit 114 evaluates that there is a high possibility of recovery (step S56), and displays the evaluation result on the display unit 13 and stores it in the memory unit 12.

[0053] As described above, the swallowing ability evaluation device 2 of this embodiment evaluates the possibility of recovery of swallowing ability based on the change in vascular stiffness during the head-up tilt test as well as additional information regarding the subject's persistent vegetative state, cognitive function, and nutritional state, making it possible to more accurately evaluate the possibility of recovery of the subject's swallowing ability.

[0054] In this embodiment, the swallowing ability is evaluated based on additional information on the subject's persistent consciousness disorder, cognitive function, and nutritional state, but the present invention is not limited to this. At least one of the information on the subject's persistent consciousness disorder, cognitive function, and nutritional state may be acquired as additional information to perform swallowing ability evaluation. In this case, the additional information that has not been input may be processed as having no effect on the evaluation of swallowing ability. For example, if there is no information on consciousness disorder, the subject may be evaluated as not having consciousness disorder. This makes it possible to improve the accuracy of the evaluation of the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of the subject even with little information. In addition, the relationship between the additional information and the high and low of the recovery possibility in the above embodiment is one setting example derived based on the experiment according to the present invention, and the relationship between the additional information and the high and low of the recovery possibility may be changed based on the accumulation of test results, etc.

[0055] In addition, in this embodiment, the swallowing ability is evaluated based on the additional information on the subject's persistent vegetative state, cognitive function, and nutritional state, but the present invention is not limited to this, and information on the subject's health state, including neuropsychology, higher brain function, etc., may be acquired as additional information to evaluate the swallowing ability. In this case, similar to the information on the subject's persistent vegetative state, cognitive function, and nutritional state, if the condition of the subject related to the additional information is not good, the possibility of recovery of the subject's swallowing ability may be evaluated as a factor that reduces the possibility of recovery of the subject's swallowing ability.

[0056] In addition, in this embodiment, the additional information is input after the head-up tilt test, but this is not limited to the above. For example, the additional information may be input in advance to the swallowing ability evaluation device 2 and stored in the storage unit 12 before the head-up tilt test, or information stored in an electronic medical record or the like may be acquired via a network. This simplifies the process related to swallowing ability evaluation, and allows the possibility of recovery of swallowing ability to be evaluated quickly and accurately.

[0057] In addition, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the head-up tilt test is performed to measure the vascular stiffness when the swallowing ability is evaluated, but this is not limited to this. For example, a head-up tilt test may be performed in advance, and the supine position vascular stiffness value and the tilted position vascular stiffness value acquired at that time may be input in advance from the input unit 14, and the vascular stiffness value acquisition unit 113 may store the input supine position vascular stiffness value and the tilted position vascular stiffness value in the storage unit 12. This allows the process related to the acquisition of the supine position vascular stiffness value and the tilted position vascular stiffness value by the head-up tilt test to be separated from the calculation process related to the evaluation of the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability, so that the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability can be evaluated more efficiently.

[0058] In addition, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, after the tilt of the examination table in the head-up tilt test is completed, the blood pressure, volume pulse wave, etc. are measured according to the instruction input of the measurer, but this is not limited to this. For example, after the tilt of the examination table is completed, the acquisition of the biological signal may be automatically started. This eliminates the time lag between the completion of the tilt and the input to start the measurement, and allows the tilted vascular stiffness value to be calculated more accurately.

[0059] The swallowing ability evaluation method according to the present embodiment can be realized by using a normal computer system. For example, a computer program for executing the above-mentioned operations can be distributed via a network, and the computer program can be installed in a computer to cause the computer to function as the swallowing ability evaluation device. [Industrial Applicability]

[0060] The present invention is suitable for evaluating the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of a subject, particularly in a subject who has a swallowing disorder and is in a state where swallowing is difficult. [Explanation of symbols]

[0061] 1, 2 Swallowing ability evaluation device, 11, 11' control unit, 111 biosignal acquisition unit, 112 calculation unit, 113 blood vessel stiffness value acquisition unit, 114 evaluation unit, 115 additional information acquisition unit, 12 storage unit, 13 display unit, 14 input unit, 30 sensor

Claims

1. a vascular stiffness value acquiring unit that acquires a supine position vascular stiffness value representing vascular stiffness measured in a supine position in the head-up tilt test and an inclined position vascular stiffness value representing vascular stiffness measured in an inclined position; and an evaluation unit that compares the magnitude relationship between the supine position vascular stiffness value and the inclined position vascular stiffness value and evaluates the possibility of recovery of the swallowing ability of a subject having a swallowing disorder based on a comparison result, The evaluation unit evaluates that the possibility of recovery is low when the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value is equal to or less than the supine position blood vessel stiffness value. A swallowing ability evaluation device characterized by:

2. an additional information acquisition unit that acquires information on at least one of the subject's persistent vegetative state, cognitive function, and nutritional state; When the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value is greater than the supine position blood vessel stiffness value, If the subject has a persistent vegetative state, the possibility of recovery is evaluated as low; If the subject does not have persistent vegetative state, and the subject's cognitive function is impaired and the subject's nutritional state is poor, the possibility of recovery is evaluated as being moderate; If the subject does not have persistent vegetative state, the cognitive function of the subject is not deteriorated, and the nutritional state of the subject is good, the subject is evaluated as having a high possibility of recovery. The swallowing ability evaluation device according to claim 1 .

3. The tilted vascular stiffness value is an average value from the completion of tilt in the head-up tilt test to 2 minutes or more and 5 minutes or less. The swallowing ability evaluation device according to claim 1 .

4. The inclination angle in the inclined position is 10° or more and 30° or less. The swallowing ability evaluation device according to claim 1 .

5. A biological signal acquisition unit that acquires a blood pressure and a volume pulse wave of the subject; a storage unit that stores a vascular stiffness model that represents a relationship between the blood pressure and the volume pulse wave and the vascular stiffness; A calculation unit that calculates the blood vessel stiffness, The calculation unit calculates the supine position vascular stiffness value and the inclined position vascular stiffness value based on the blood pressure and the volume pulse wave acquired by the biological signal acquisition unit and a vascular stiffness model stored in the storage unit, The blood vessel stiffness value acquisition unit acquires the supine position blood vessel stiffness value and the inclined position blood vessel stiffness value calculated by the calculation unit. The swallowing ability evaluation device according to claim 1 .

6. Computer, a vascular stiffness value acquiring unit for acquiring a supine position vascular stiffness value representing the vascular stiffness measured in a supine position in the head-up tilt test and an inclined position vascular stiffness value representing the vascular stiffness measured in an inclined position; an evaluation unit that compares the magnitude relationship between the supine position vascular stiffness value and the inclined position vascular stiffness value, and evaluates that the swallowing ability of the subject with dysphagia is unlikely to recover if the inclined position vascular stiffness value is equal to or less than the supine position vascular stiffness value; A program that functions as a

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