| Adenoidal hypertrophy in children is a main cause of children obstructive sleep apneahypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). OSAHS in children is a familiar disease of upper airway forchildren. The existence of OSAHS in children could affect children's pulmonary function,growth and development, and even cause children's sudden death. However, it's hard toinvestigate the airflow state and distribution quantitatively in the upper airway for itscomplicated three-dimensional structure that limited the further studies of diseases related toOSAHS in children. So it's necessary to study the airflow state of the upper airway bymechanical approaches.Based on the detail anatomic data and CT data of children with adenoidal hypertrophy,three-dimensional finite element models were reconstructed using the method of surfacerending. The whole respiratory period at different time was numerically simulated using finiteelement method.The results show that narrow nasopharynx results in the obvious change of pressure andvelocity grads, enhances the possibility of the sink of pharynx, which bring the sickness ofsnore or Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome.The results may lead to meaningful understanding of the distribution of airflow alongnasal cavity and pharynx under physiological and pathological conditions, and may offer atheoretical foundation for adenoidectomy and establish appropriate operation plan.The research work is a part of National Natural Science Foundation of China (fundnumber: 10472025; 10672036). |
