Rehabilitation of oral feeding ability in a tracheostomized adolescent with nf2: from mechanical ventilation to ambient air

The objective of this manuscript was to report the speech-language pathology (SLP) rehabilitation in a tracheostomized patient, presenting the possibility of early intervention from mechanical ventilation. This is a retrospective clinical case study, bymeans of data collection of medical records, of a 15 year-old tetraparetic male with upper limbs paraesthesia, global muscle weakness and cutaneous nodules, diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 2; and 3different histological types of brain tumors in three different locations. After two tumoral resections and one cervical traction, he presented impairment of the spine and progressive motor and respiratory distress, evolving with pneumonia and prolongued orotracheal intubation (OTI).Two cervical arthrodesis for cervical deformity and vertebral slip were required, as well as a tracheostomy, leading to communication and swallowing difficult. It was required SL Pintervention to rehabilitate feeding and oral communication, initially in continuous mechanical ventilation, then progressing to ambient air. We observed, not only less risk of aspiration to the patient, but also the family participation had fundamental importance in rehabilitation.