Development of image diagnostic system for upper airway using high dimensional imaging data and Establishment of diagnostic standard criteria.

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停(OSA)是一种以睡眠时上呼吸道反复塌陷为特征的疾病。确定梗阻的确切位置对于获得有效的治疗非常重要。多年来，二维(2D)头影测量图像被用来寻找OSA患者和正常受试者(非OSA)之间的解剖差异，研究人员报道了显著的颅面差异，如下颌的大小和位置，后呼吸道间隙扩大，以及舌头和软腭的大小。虽然2D成像很有价值，但除了3D成像和阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停(OSA)患者的阻塞性质外，人们还没有充分认识到呼吸道的复杂形状。应用锥束CT对10例OSA患者和10例非OSA对照组的上呼吸道结构进行了对比研究。本项目分为四个阶段：1.高维图像数据的系统构建，2.临床项目的确定，3.随机对照试验检验诊断准确性，4.建立诊断标准。关于OSA患者，我们得出了以下结论：(1)证明了CBCT三维气道成像对仰卧位清醒患者的诊断价值；(2)显示OSA的呼吸道特征，有助于区分OSA病例和非OSA病例。

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a disorder characterized by repetitive upper airway collapse during sleep. Identifying the exact location of the obstruction is important to obtain an effective treatment. For many years 2-dimensional (2D) cephalometric images have been used to look for anatomic differences between OSA patients and normal subjects (non-OSA), and researchers have reported significant craniofacial differences such as size and position of the mandible, posterior airway space enlargement, and in the size of the tongue and soft palate. While 2D imaging is valuable, the complex shape of the airway is not fully appreciated except with 3D images and nature of the obstruction in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. Ten OSA patients and 10 non-OSA control subjects were imaged using conebeam computed tomography to compare their upper airway structure.This project have four phases of following steps : 1. The systems construction of the high-dimensional image data, 2. The decision of the clinical item, 3. Examination of the diagnosis accuracy by the randomized controlled trial, 4. The establishment of the diagnostic criteria.The following conclusions were provided about the OSA patients :(1) we demonstrate the utility of diagnosis of anatomy with the 3D airway imaging with CBCT in awake patients in the supine position ; (2) we show the characteristics of OSA airway that may contribute to distinguishing OSA cases from non-OSA cases.