A biomechanical model of the human tongue and its clinical implications

Abstract

Many surgical technics act on the upper airway in general, and on the tongue in particular. For example, tongue is one of the anatomical structures involved in the case of Pierre Robin syndrome, mandibular prognathism, or sleep apnoea syndrome. This paper presents the biomechanical and dynamical model of the human tongue we have developed, and the method we have used to fit this model to the anatomical and physical properties of a given patient’s tongue. Each step of the modeling process is precisely described: the soft tissues modeling through the Finite Element Method (geometrical design of the FE structure within the upper airway and representation of lingual musculature), and the motor control of the model with the corresponding dynamical simulations. Finally, the syndromes listed above are presented, with some focus on the clinical implications of the model.