Speech therapy in sclerosis systemic: a case report

ABSTRACT Systemic sclerosis is a rare, progressive of unknown etiology and variable evolution, autoimmune rheumatic connective tissue disease. It reaches vital organs and perioral tissues, causing limitation of mouth opening, hypertonia of the phonoarticulatory organs, face with the appearance of a mask, difficulty in chewing and swallowing. Aiming to compare the pre and post miofuncional orofacial intervention in subjects with systemic sclerosis, it was performed a quali quantitative exploratory clinical study in the Rheumatology department of the University Hospital and in the School Clinic of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences of the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), from July/2012 to December/2013. The sample consisted of five individuals, of both genders, aged between 24 and 60 years and with confirmed medical diagnosis of that condition. The subjects underwent through evaluation by MBGR protocol and 36 sessions of speech therapy (myofunctional and myotheray). At the end, the initial and final results were compared from the clinical indicators worked. After analyzing the results obtained, improvements in all aspects were observed. The previous Speech Therapy evaluation revealed restriction of mouth opening in all subjects and the final results presented gains between 5.3 and 14.2mm of opening (average: 9.26). Regarding muscle tonus, mobility of the phonoarticulatory organs and orofacial dormancy, improvements and evidences of adequacy of oral functions were observed. It can be concluded that, although some patients still show changes, the rehabilitation promoted significant improvements in the clinical condition and quality of life of the individuals of the study group.