These statements were taken from the VitalStim website: -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. For additional information on dysphagia treatment and education in the media, please check out their site at: http://www.vitalstimtherapy.com/news_and_media/index.aspx