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Biomedical subjects

Yohan Payan

Publications and source records attributed to Yohan Payan.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Controlling posture using a plantar pressure-based, tongue-placed tactile biofeedback system.

The present paper introduces an original biofeedback system for improving human balance control, whose underlying principle consists in providing additional sensory information related to foot sole pressure distribution to the user through a tongue-placed tactile output device. To assess the effect of this biofeedback system on postural control during quiet standing, ten young healthy adults were asked to stand as immobile as possible with their eyes closed in two conditions of No-biofeedback and Biofeedback. Centre of foot pressure (CoP) displacements were recorded using a force platform. Results showed reduced CoP displacements in the Biofeedback relative to the No-biofeedback condition. The present findings evidenced the ability of the central nervous system to efficiently integrate an artificial plantar-based, tongue-placed tactile biofeedback for controlling control posture during quiet standing.

Adult↗

Improving human ankle joint position sense using an artificial tongue-placed tactile biofeedback.

Proprioception is comprised of sensory input from several sources including muscle spindles, joint capsule, ligaments and skin. The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate whether the central nervous system was able to integrate an artificial biofeedback delivered through electrotactile stimulation of the tongue to improve proprioceptive acuity at the ankle joint. To address this objective, nine young healthy adults were asked to perform an active ankle-matching task with and without biofeedback. The underlying principle of the biofeedback consisted of supplying subjects with supplementary information about the position of their matching ankle position relative to their reference ankle position through a tongue-placed tactile output device (Tongue Display Unit). Measures of the overall accuracy and the variability of the positioning were determined using the absolute error and the variable error, respectively. Results showed more accurate and more consistent matching performances with than without biofeedback, as indicated by decreased absolute and variable errors, respectively. These findings suggested that the central nervous system was able to take advantage of an artificial tongue-placed tactile biofeedback to improve the position sense at the ankle joint.

Adult↗

A new health strategy to prevent pressure ulcer formation in paraplegics using computer and sensory substitution via the tongue.

Pressure ulcers are recognized as a major health issue in individuals with spinal cord injuries and new approaches to prevent this pathology are necessary. An innovative health strategy is being developed through the use of computer and sensory substitution via the tongue in order to compensate for the sensory loss in the buttock area for individuals with paraplegia. This sensory compensation will enable individuals with spinal cord injuries to be aware of a localized excess of pressure at the skin/seat interface and, consequently, will enable them to prevent the formation of pressure ulcers by relieving the cutaneous area of suffering. This work reports an initial evaluation of this approach and the feasibility of creating an adapted behavior, with a change in pressure as a response to electro-stimulated information on the tongue. Obtained during a clinical study in 10 healthy seated subjects, the first results are encouraging, with 92% success in 100 performed tests. These results, which have to be completed and validated in the paraplegic population, may lead to a new approach to education in health to prevent the formation of pressure ulcers within this population.

France↗

Computer assisted planning and orbital surgery: patient-related prediction of osteotomy size in proptosis reduction.

BACKGROUND: Proptosis is characterized by a protrusion of the eyeball due to an increase of the orbital tissue volume. To recover a normal eyeball positioning, the most frequent surgical technique consists in the osteotomy of orbital walls combined with the manual loading on the eyeball. Only a rough clinical rule is currently available for the surgeons but it is useless for this technique. The first biomechanical model dealing with proptosis reduction, validated in one patient, has been previously proposed by the authors. METHODS: This paper proposes a rule improving the pre-operative planning of the osteotomy size in proptosis reduction. Patient-related poroelastic finite element models combined with sensitivity studies were used to propose two clinical rules to improve the pre-operative planning of proptosis reduction. This poroelastic model was run on 12 patients. Sensitivity studies permitted to establish relationships between the osteotomy size, the patient-related orbital volume, the decompressed tissue volume and the eyeball backward displacement. FINDINGS: The eyeball displacement and the osteotomy size were non-linearly related: an exponential rule has been proposed. The patient-related orbital volume showed a significant influence: a bi-quadratic analytical equation liking the osteotomy size, the orbital volume and the targeted eyeball protrusion has been established. INTERPRETATION: Two process rules derived from patient-related biomechanical FE models have been proposed for the proptosis reduction planning. The implementation of the process rules into a clinical setting is easy since only a sagittal radiography is required. The osteotomy size can be monitored using optical guided instruments.

Adult↗

Orbital and maxillofacial computer aided surgery: patient-specific finite element models to predict surgical outcomes.

This paper addresses an important issue raised for the clinical relevance of Computer-Assisted Surgical applications, namely the methodology used to automatically build patient-specific finite element (FE) models of anatomical structures. From this perspective, a method is proposed, based on a technique called the mesh-matching method, followed by a process that corrects mesh irregularities. The mesh-matching algorithm generates patient-specific volume meshes from an existing generic model. The mesh regularization process is based on the Jacobian matrix transform related to the FE reference element and the current element. This method for generating patient-specific FE models is first applied to computer-assisted maxillofacial surgery, and more precisely, to the FE elastic modelling of patient facial soft tissues. For each patient, the planned bone osteotomies (mandible, maxilla, chin) are used as boundary conditions to deform the FE face model, in order to predict the aesthetic outcome of the surgery. Seven FE patient-specific models were successfully generated by our method. For one patient, the prediction of the FE model is qualitatively compared with the patient's post-operative appearance, measured from a computer tomography scan. Then, our methodology is applied to computer-assisted orbital surgery. It is, therefore, evaluated for the generation of 11 patient-specific FE poroelastic models of the orbital soft tissues. These models are used to predict the consequences of the surgical decompression of the orbit. More precisely, an average law is extrapolated from the simulations carried out for each patient model. This law links the size of the osteotomy (i.e. the surgical gesture) and the backward displacement of the eyeball (the consequence of the surgical gesture).

Algorithms↗

Prediction of tissue decompression in orbital surgery.

OBJECTIVE: A method to predict the relationships between decompressed volume of orbital soft tissues, backward displacement of globe after osteotomy, and force exerted by the surgeon, was proposed to improve surgery planning in exophthalmia reduction. DESIGN: A geometric model and a poroelastic finite element model were developed, based on computed tomography scan data. BACKGROUND: The exophthalmia is characterized by a protrusion of the eyeball. Surgery consists in an osteotomy of the orbit walls to decompress the orbital content. A few clinical observations ruling on an almost linear relationship between globe backward displacement and tissue-decompressed volume are described in the literature. METHODS: Fast prediction of decompressed volume is derived from the geometric model: a sphere in interaction with a cone. Besides, a poroelastic finite element model involving morphology, material properties of orbital components and surgical gesture was implemented. RESULTS: The geometric model provided a better decompression volume estimation than the finite element model. Besides, the finite element model permitted to quantify the backward displacement, the surgical gesture and the stiffness of the orbital content. CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary results obtained for one patient, in accordance with the clinical literature, were relatively satisfying. An efficient aid for location and size of osteotomies was derived and seemed to be able to help in the surgery planning.

Decompression, Surgical↗

Patient specific finite element model of the face soft tissues for computer-assisted maxillofacial surgery.

This paper addresses the prediction of face soft tissue deformations resulting from bone repositioning in maxillofacial surgery. A generic 3D Finite Element model of the face soft tissues was developed. Face muscles are defined in the mesh as embedded structures, with different mechanical properties (transverse isotropy, stiffness depending on muscle contraction). Simulations of face deformations under muscle actions can thus be performed. In the context of maxillofacial surgery, this generic soft-tissue model is automatically conformed to patient morphology by elastic registration, using skin and skull surfaces segmented from a CT scan. Some elements of the patient mesh could be geometrically distorted during the registration, which disables Finite Element analysis. Irregular elements are thus detected and automatically regularized. This semi-automatic patient model generation is robust, fast and easy to use. Therefore it seems compatible with clinical use. Six patient models were successfully built, and simulations of soft tissue deformations resulting from bone displacements performed on two patient models. Both the adequation of the models to the patient morphologies and the simulations of post-operative aspects were qualitatively validated by five surgeons. Their conclusions are that the models fit the morphologies of the patients, and that the predicted soft tissue modifications are coherent with what they would expect.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

Influences of tongue biomechanics on speech movements during the production of velar stop consonants: a modeling study.

This study explores the following hypothesis: forward looping movements of the tongue that are observed in VCV sequences are due partly to the anatomical arrangement of the tongue muscles, how they are used to produce a velar closure, and how the tongue interacts with the palate during consonantal closure. The study uses an anatomically based two-dimensional biomechanical tongue model. Tissue elastic properties are accounted for in finite-element modeling, and movement is controlled by constant-rate control parameter shifts. Tongue raising and lowering movements are produced by the model mainly with the combined actions of the genioglossus, styloglossus, and hyoglossus. Simulations of V1CV2 movements were made, where C is a velar consonant and V is [a], [i], or [u]. Both vowels and consonants are specified in terms of targets, but for the consonant the target is virtual, and cannot be reached because it is beyond the surface of the palate. If V1 is the vowel [a] or [u], the resulting trajectory describes a movement that begins to loop forward before consonant closure and continues to slide along the palate during the closure. This pattern is very stable when moderate changes are made to the specification of the target consonant location and agrees with data published in the literature. If V1 is the vowel [i], looping patterns are also observed, but their orientation was quite sensitive to small changes in the location of the consonant target. These findings also agree with patterns of variability observed in measurements from human speakers, but they contradict data published by Houde [Ph.D. dissertation (1967)]. These observations support the idea that the biomechanical properties of the tongue could be the main factor responsible for the forward loops when V1 is a back vowel, regardless of whether V2 is a back vowel or a front vowel. In the [i] context it seems that additional factors have to be taken into consideration in order to explain the observations made on some speakers.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

Computer-aided hepatic tumour ablation: requirements and preliminary results.

Surgical resection of hepatic tumours is not always possible, since it depends on different factors, among which their location inside the liver functional segments. Alternative techniques consist in local use of chemical or physical agents to destroy the tumour. Radio frequency and cryosurgical ablations are examples of such alternative techniques that may be performed percutaneously. This requires a precise localisation of the tumour placement during ablation. Computer-assisted surgery tools may be used in conjunction with these new ablation techniques to improve the therapeutic efficiency, whilst they benefit from minimal invasiveness. This paper introduces the principles of a system for computer-assisted hepatic tumour ablation and describes preliminary experiments focusing on data registration evaluation. To keep close to conventional protocols, we consider registration of pre-operative CT or MRI data to intra-operative echographic data.

Humans↗

Biomechanical models to simulate consequences of maxillofacial surgery.

This paper presents the biomechanical finite element models that have been developed in the framework of the computer-assisted maxillofacial surgery. After a brief overview of the continuous elastic modelling method, two models are introduced and their use for computer-assisted applications discussed. The first model deals with orthognathic surgery and aims at predicting the facial consequences of maxillary and mandibular osteotomies. For this, a generic three-dimensional model of the face is automatically adapted to the morphology of the patient by the mean of elastic registration. Qualitative simulations of the consequences of an osteotomy of the mandible can thus be provided. The second model addresses the Sleep Apnoea Syndrome. Its aim is to develop a complete modelling of the interaction between airflow and upper airways walls during breathing. Dynamical simulations of the interaction during a respiratory cycle are computed and compared with observed phenomena.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗