MRI flow measurements with a flexible stenosis phantom

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder caused by the collapse of the upper airway during sleep due to a shift of soft tissues. To optimise the treatment, one needs a better understanding of the patient-specific causes of OSA. As a first step, a flexible tube with a stenosis was manufactured, representing a simple model of the pharynx geometry. The phantom has been used to carry out magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) flow sensitive measurements, to investigate the flow conditions that lead to the collapse. This contribution is concerned with the comparison and analysis of the flow and phantom deformation using varying boundary conditions, such as the Reynolds number and transmural pressure.

Keywords

• obstructive sleep apnea
• computational fluid dynamics simulation
• experimental validation
• flow measurement
• deformation measurement
• phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging