Prediction and intervention of obstructive sleep apnoea

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods for the simulation of the upper airway of a subject. One embodiments provides a method () including the initial step () of receiving one or more tomographic images of the subject. At step () a three dimensional geometric model of the upper airway is generated from the one or more tomographic images. The geometric model includes a network of interconnected deformable mesh elements collectively defining a fluid domain () and a solid domain (). The solid domain () defining a single unitary model of the entire upper airway region segmented into a plurality of predefined geometric regions, each being defined by one or more common anatomical parameters. At step (), a computer simulation is performed on the geometric model to simulate behaviour of the upper airway when the subject is positioned in a predefined position. The computer simulation includes () performing a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis on the fluid domain and then () performing a Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) analysis between the fluid and solid domains under the influence of an applied gravity effect. Finally, at step (), subject-specific parameters are output which are indicative of the behaviour of the upper airway.