Tami

OCF is curently in the middle of producing a multi-page section on this topic. As with all things on the site, it comes down to getting qualaified doctors and support people to create the content, and then the obtaining the money to build a new section of the site. We hope to have this very large new addition to the OCF site up in the middle of July. It is cetainly a topic of great importance and one that has many facets to it, all needing to be explored in this new OCF web site material.

Without being completely familiar with the Vitalstim device, but having looked at their web site, I can't comment or recommend the product, but will have the device in front of our doctors for their opinions this comming week. The FDA clearance that they have is a 510k, and as Gary and I have mentioned in other posts, this is the easiest of the approvals to get, only requiring that it shows that it is equivalent to something that already exists in the market. They have on their web site stated something that is not true, and that is that "The FDA has concluded that VitalStim Therapy is safe and effective." The FDA does not make statements like this in a 510k, it is only a premarket approval and no such statements are made by the agency. That does not mean that it does not work, just that they have over stepped the FDA protocols for labeling and statements.

Certainly the testimonial above is worth considering if someone has not made progress with conventional physical therapy for dysphagia.