Title: Investigation of upper airway changes in orthognathic surgery with computational fluid dynamics analysis

Authors: Ilker Inan; Erman Aslan; Frantzeska Karkazi; Yasemin Bahar Acar; Banu Korbahti; Hasan Riza Guven

Addresses: Department of Aircraft Maintenance and Repair, Istanbul Gelisim University, TR-34310, Istanbul, Turkey ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kocaeli University, TR-41380, Kocaeli, Turkey ' Department of Orthodontics, Marmara University, TR-34854, Istanbul, Turkey ' Department of Orthodontics, Marmara University, TR-34854, Istanbul, Turkey ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, TR-34320, Istanbul, Turkey ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, TR-34320, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: In this retrospective study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was used to observe changes in airway in a patient (20-year-old male) who underwent bimaxillary surgery with maxillary advancement and mandibular setback. Bimaxillary orthognathic surgery is an invasive approach that is used for the correction of skeletal class III malocclusion related with dental surgery. In order to perform CFD analysis, at the first stage cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) data from preoperative (2 months before surgery) and postoperative (6 months after surgery) were used to build the numerical domain at three different volumetric flow rates of 30 L/min, 15 L/min and 7.5 L/min. In addition to volume changes in the airway, pressure drop, shear stress, streamlines were analysed for inhalation and exhalation phases at different volumetric flow rates. The total upper airway volume after the operation narrowed by 13.69% compared to the pre-operation. Upper respiratory tract nasal resistance decreased. In the post-operative condition, a pressure drop was observed between the nostrils and hypopharynx region for all volumetric flow rates. This demonstrates that the patient breathes easier after the bimaxillary orthognathic surgery operation.

Keywords: finite volume method; FVM; turbulent flow; upper airway change; upper airway flow.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2024.137044

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2024 Vol.24 No.2, pp.100 - 111

Received: 17 Nov 2022
Accepted: 07 Jan 2023
Published online: 01 Mar 2024 *

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