Center for Sensory Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, DK-9220 Aalborg, Denmark.
J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2014 Mar 31;11:44. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-11-44.
A system providing disabled persons with control of various assistive devices with the tongue has been developed at Aalborg University in Denmark. The system requires an activation unit attached to the tongue with a small piercing. The aim of this study was to establish and evaluate a safe and tolerable procedure for medical tongue piercing and to evaluate the expected and perceived procedural discomfort.
Four tetraplegic subjects volunteered for the study. A surgical protocol for a safe insertion of a tongue barbell piercing was presented using sterilized instruments and piercing parts. Moreover, post-procedural observations of participant complications such as bleeding, edema, and infection were recorded. Finally, procedural discomforts were monitored by VAS scores of pain, changes in taste and speech as well as problems related to hitting the teeth.
The piercings were all successfully inserted in less than 5 min and the pain level was moderate compared with oral injections. No bleeding, infection, embedding of the piercing, or tooth/gingival injuries were encountered; a moderate edema was found in one case without affecting the speech. In two cases the piercing rod later had to be replaced by a shorter rod, because participants complained that the rod hit their teeth. The replacements prevented further problems. Moreover, loosening of balls was encountered, which could be prevented with the addition of dental glue. No cases of swallowing or aspiration of the piercing parts were recorded.
The procedure proved simple, fast, and safe for insertion of tongue piercings for tetraplegic subjects in a clinical setting. The procedure represented several precautions in order to avoid risks in these susceptible participants with possible co-morbidity. No serious complications were encountered, and the procedure was found tolerable to the participants. The procedure may be used in future studies with tongue piercings being a prerequisite for similar systems, and this may include insertion in an out-patient setting.
丹麦奥尔堡大学开发了一种系统，该系统可以让残疾人通过舌头来控制各种辅助设备。该系统需要在舌头上安装一个带有小穿孔的激活单元。本研究旨在建立并评估一种安全且可耐受的医学舌穿刺程序，并评估预期和感知到的程序不适。
四名四肢瘫痪的受试者自愿参加了这项研究。使用经过消毒的器械和穿刺部件，提出了一种安全插入舌环穿刺的手术方案。此外，还记录了参与者的并发症，如出血、水肿和感染等。最后，通过疼痛的视觉模拟评分（VAS）、味觉和言语的变化以及与牙齿碰撞相关的问题来监测程序不适。
所有穿刺均在不到 5 分钟内成功插入，疼痛程度与口腔注射相当。没有出现出血、感染、嵌入穿刺或牙齿/牙龈损伤；一例出现中度水肿，但不影响言语。在两种情况下，后来不得不将穿刺杆更换为较短的杆，因为参与者抱怨杆碰到了他们的牙齿。更换后防止了进一步的问题。此外，还遇到了球松动的情况，可以通过添加牙科胶来防止。没有记录到吞咽或吸入穿刺部件的情况。
该程序被证明对于四肢瘫痪患者在临床环境中插入舌穿刺是简单、快速且安全的。该程序代表了一些预防措施，以避免这些易感参与者可能存在的合并症带来的风险。没有发生严重并发症，且该程序对参与者来说是可耐受的。该程序可用于未来的研究，前提是使用舌穿刺，因为这是类似系统的先决条件，并且可能包括在门诊环境中进行插入。
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