Biomechanical Evaluation of Eustachian Tube Dysfunction

咽鼓管功能障碍的生物力学评估

• 批准号: 7103978
• 负责人: SAMIR N GHADIALI
• 金额: $ 15.25万
• 依托单位: LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-07-01 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7103978
• 关键词: adhesions; biomechanics; biophysics; child (0-11); clearance rate; cleft palate; clinical research; computational biology; computer simulation; disease /disorder model; disease /disorder proneness /risk; eustachian tube; histopathology; human tissue; middle ear disorder; model design /development; morphology; morphometry; otitis media; patient oriented research; physical property

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Otitis media (OM) is one of the most prevalent diseases in children and cost the US healthcare system an estimated $5 billion dollars annually. Although the primary etiology responsible for the persistence of OM conditions is a dysfunctional Eustachian tube (ET), standard treatment therapies for OM do not address the underlying biomechanical and structural abnormalities responsible for ET dysfunction. Recently, several clinical therapies which target specific mechanical and/or physical properties have been suggested to improve ET function. However, the relative effectiveness of these therapies in patient populations with different structural pathologies is not known. Therefore, the goal of this research program is to develop an in- depth understanding of how various biomechanical and biophysical properties influence ET function in different OM prone patient populations. Due to the large number of physical properties, and the complex interactions among these properties, we will elucidate the mechanisms responsible for ET dysfunction using a sophisticated multi-scale computational approach. First, established computational modeling techniques will be used to investigate how the pathological anatomy of ET tissues influences opening phenomena in various OM prone populations. Second, fluid-structure interactions and multi-scale phenomena will be incorporated into the tissue deformation models in order to investigate how various clinically relevant properties (i.e. surface tension and mucosal adhesion forces) influence ET opening. Several sensitivity analyses will be performed to identify which biomechanical or biophysical properties have the greatest impact on ET function in different patient populations. In addition, the computational models will be used to estimate changes in ET function during various pathological conditions. As a result, this research will identify the biomechanical and biophysical mechanisms responsible for ET dysfunction. This information is vital to the development of novel treatment therapies that seek to restore normal ET function in patients with OM.

描述（由申请人提供）：中耳炎 (OM) 是儿童中最常见的疾病之一，每年给美国医疗保健系统造成约 50 亿美元的损失。尽管导致 OM 病症持续存在的主要原因是咽鼓管 (ET) 功能障碍，但 OM 的标准治疗方法并不能解决导致 ET 功能障碍的潜在生物力学和结构异常。最近，已经提出了几种针对特定机械和/或物理特性的临床疗法来改善 ET 功能。然而，这些疗法在具有不同结构病理的患者群体中的相对有效性尚不清楚。因此，本研究项目的目标是深入了解各种生物力学和生物物理特性如何影响不同 OM 倾向患者群体的 ET 功能。由于大量的物理特性以及这些特性之间复杂的相互作用，我们将使用复杂的多尺度计算方法来阐明导致 ET 功能障碍的机制。首先，已建立的计算模型技术将用于研究 ET 组织的病理解剖学如何影响各种 OM 易感人群的开放现象。其次，流体-结构相互作用和多尺度现象将被纳入组织变形模型中，以研究各种临床相关特性（即表面张力和粘膜粘附力）如何影响 ET 打开。将进行多项敏感性分析，以确定哪些生物力学或生物物理特性对不同患者群体的 ET 功能影响最大。此外，计算模型将用于估计各种病理条件下 ET 功能的变化。因此，这项研究将确定导致 ET 功能障碍的生物力学和生物物理机制。这些信息对于开发旨在恢复 OM 患者正常 ET 功能的新型治疗方法至关重要。