Shinagawa Hideo, Murano Emi Z, Zhuo Jiachen, Landman Bennett, Gullapalli Rao P, Prince Jerry L, Stone Maureen
Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA.
Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod. 2009 Mar;107(3):e57-63. doi: 10.1016/j.tripleo.2008.11.022.
The purpose of this study was to examine whether the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technique can be used as a modality to represent the structural deformation in the in vivo genioglossus (GG) muscle fibers with oral appliances (OAs).
Three healthy subjects were recruited for the pilot study. A custom-made OA, which is modified from a tongue retaining device (TRD), was constructed for each subject before the DTI acquisitions. Recordings were made with and without OAs to compare the GG muscle fiber deformation.
DTI provided good resolution of tongue muscle fibers in vivo and successful isolation of each muscle fiber bundle. In particular, the GG muscle fiber deformation due to OAs was clearly visualized.
This DTI technique may be used not only to identify the individual myoarchitecture, but also to assess muscle fiber deformations in vivo, such as constriction, dilatation, and rotation with OAs. Clinical studies for OSA patients will be the next step.
本研究的目的是检验扩散张量成像（DTI）技术是否可作为一种手段来呈现使用口腔矫治器（OA）时体内颏舌肌（GG）肌纤维的结构变形。
招募了三名健康受试者进行初步研究。在进行DTI采集之前，为每个受试者制作了一个由舌保持装置（TRD）改装而来的定制OA。在佩戴和不佩戴OA的情况下进行记录，以比较GG肌纤维的变形情况。
DTI在体内提供了良好的舌肌纤维分辨率，并成功分离出每一束肌纤维。特别是，因OA导致的GG肌纤维变形清晰可见。
这种DTI技术不仅可用于识别个体肌结构，还可用于评估体内肌纤维的变形情况，如使用OA时的收缩、扩张和旋转。下一步将针对阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）患者开展临床研究。
