Title: Compensatory tongue patterns in glossectomy patients
Abstract: To examine the effects of glossectomy surgery on tongue deformation strategies, a unique combination of data was used, including internal tongue strain patterns from tagged-cine-MRI and detailed muscle architecture from high-resolution MR images. Two glossectomy patient groups were studied and compared to normal controls. They differed in the type of reconstruction after cancer excision: primary closure or reconstruction with forearm flap. All patients included in this study had the same tumor type (Squamous Cell Carcinoma), size (T1 and T2) and location (unilateral mid-third of oral tongue). The tongue developed distinct deformation strategies that move the remaining tongue tissue, the flap and the scar tissue. Compensatory patterns such as pivot points and areas of rigidity will be shown and discussed. These appear to be compensatory strategies to optimize speech output after surgery. This presentation is based on viewing the tongue as a muscular hydrostat, which provides the basis for hypotheses about the formation and release of areas of rigidity within the tongue. The rigidity might be a way to simplify sound-specific strategies for moving the tongue and controlling changes in its shape in normal and patient subjects. Supported by NIH K99DC009279, and R01DC01758 from the NIDCD.
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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