Estimation of the hyperelastic parameters of fresh human oropharyngeal soft tissues using indentation testing. (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Haddad, Seyyed M.H.; Dhaliwal, Sandeep S.; Rotenberg, Brian W.; Ladak, Hanif M.; Samani, Abbas
• Is Part Of: Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials. Volume 108(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: Hyperelasticity -- Measurement -- Oropharynx -- Soft palate -- Palatine tonsil -- Tongue base -- Uvula -- Indentation -- Finite element -- Optimization; Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials -- Mechanical properties -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials; Biomedical materials -- Mechanical properties; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2020.103798
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-6161

Abstract

Abstract: Patient-specific finite element (FE) modeling of the upper airway is an effective tool for accurate assessment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome. It is also useful for planning minimally invasive surgical procedures under severe OSA conditions. A major requirement of FE modeling is having reliable data characterizing the biomechanical properties of the upper airway tissues, particularly oropharyngeal soft tissue. While some data characterizing this tissue's linear elastic regime is available, reliable data characterizing its hyperelasticity is scarce. The aim of the current study is to estimate the hyperelastic mechanical properties of the oropharyngeal soft tissues, including the palatine tonsil, soft palate, uvula, and tongue base. Fresh tissue specimens of human oropharyngeal tissue were acquired from 13 OSA patients who underwent standard surgical procedures. Indentation testing was performed on the specimens to obtain their force–displacement data. To determine the specimens' hyperelastic parameters using these data, an inverse FE framework was utilized. In this work, the hyperelastic parameters corresponding to the commonly used Yeoh and 2nd order Ogden models were obtained. Both models captured the experimental force-displacement data of the tissue specimens reasonably accurately with mean errors of 11.65% or smaller. This study has provided estimates of the hyperelastic parameters of all upper airway soft tissues using fresh human tissue specimens for the first time.