News & Media

News & Media

For media inquiries, contact the following:
Barbara Kompelien, Sr. Marketing Communications Specialist
BKompelien@empi.com
1.651.415.7448

Empi, Inc.
599 Cardigan Road
St. Paul, MN 55126-4099 USA
www.empi.com

Quick Facts About Dysphagia & Treatment

• Dysphagia is defined as the difficulty or inability to swallow;
• Dysphagia can occur as a result of a neurological disorder or event (i.e. stroke, Parkinson's, of ALS), head and neck cancer, or de-conditioning as a result of age 
• Can lead to aspiration, pneumonia, choking, chronic malnutrition, severe life-threatening dehydration, an increased rate of infection, longer hospital stays, long-term institutional care and even death;
• Traditional treatments typically focus on the symptoms of the disease (i.e. starvation) with feeding tubes or special liquid-only diets, rather than the condition itself; 
• VitalStim Therapy is a non-invasive external electrical stimulation therapy that was cleared to market by the FDA in December 2002 for the treatment of dysphagia;
• VitalStim is an electrotherapy system that is used with electrodes specifically designed for external application to the pharyngeal muscles of the throat to promote swallowing.