Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2018 Oct;86:352-358. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2018.07.004. Epub 2018 Jul 3.
Finite element (FE)-based biomechanical simulations of the upper airway are promising computational tools to study abnormal upper airway deformations under obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) conditions and to help guide minimally invasive surgical interventions in case of upper airway collapse. To this end, passive biomechanical properties of the upper airway tissues, especially oropharyngeal soft tissues, are indispensable. This research aimed at characterizing the linear elastic mechanical properties of the oropharyngeal soft tissues including palatine tonsil, soft palate, uvula, and tongue base. For this purpose, precise indentation experiments were conducted on freshly harvested human tissue samples accompanied by FE-based inversion schemes. To minimize the impact of the probable nonlinearities of the tested tissue samples, only the first quarter of the measured force-displacement data corresponding to the linear elastic regime was utilized in the FE-based inversion scheme to improve the accuracy of the tissue samples' Young's modulus calculations. Measured Young's moduli of the oropharyngeal soft tissues obtained in this study are presented. They include first estimates for palatine tonsil tissue samples while measured Young's moduli of other upper airway tissues were obtained for the first time using fresh human tissue samples.
基于有限元（FE）的上呼吸道生物力学模拟是一种很有前途的计算工具，可用于研究阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）情况下上呼吸道的异常变形，并在上呼吸道塌陷时帮助指导微创外科干预。为此，上呼吸道组织（尤其是口咽软组织）的被动生物力学特性是必不可少的。本研究旨在表征口咽软组织（包括腭扁桃体、软腭、悬雍垂和舌根部）的线弹性力学特性。为此，在对新鲜采集的人体组织样本进行精确压痕实验的同时，还结合了基于有限元的反演方案。为了最小化测试组织样本可能的非线性的影响，仅使用基于有限元的反演方案中对应线性弹性区域的测量力-位移数据的前四分之一，以提高组织样本杨氏模量计算的准确性。本研究中获得的口咽软组织杨氏模量。它们包括腭扁桃体组织样本的初步估计值，而其他上呼吸道组织的杨氏模量则是首次使用新鲜人体组织样本获得的。
