Three-dimensional measurement of radiographic bone-implant contact lengths of zygomatic implants in zygomatic bone: a retrospective study of 66 implants in 28 patients.

Zygomatic implant treatment is widely applied for severe maxillary atrophy to help rehabilitate the maxillary dentition. This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the actual radiographic bone-implant contact (rBIC) lengths of zygomatic implants. The records of 28 patients who underwent zygomatic implant surgery and subsequent follow-up examinations between August 2013 and September 2018 in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital were reviewed. The surgeries were performed by a single surgeon using the same treatment protocol. All patients had a computed tomography scan at 1year after the surgery. Using three-dimensional imaging software, an investigator measured the rBIC lengths of 66 implants and documented their clinical status. The implant survival rate was 100%. The mean rBIC length was significantly longer in male patients than in female patients (20.80±5.88mm versus 17.79±6.34mm; P=0.028). The mean rBIC length of double zygomatic implants was significantly longer when compared to that of single implants (21.11±6.23mm versus 17.75±5.85mm; P=0.027). This article is novel in reporting the exact rBIC lengths of zygomatic implants in a clinical setting. The results showed that zygomatic implants are a viable treatment modality for full-mouth rehabilitation.

A method for assessing the regional vibratory pattern of vocal folds by analysing the video recording of stroboscopy.

Stroboscopy and kymography have been used to examine the motional abnormality of vocal folds and to visualise their regional vibratory pattern. In a previous study (Laryngoscope, 1999), we introduced the conceptual idea of videostrobokymography, in which we applied the concept of kymography on the pre-recorded video images using stroboscopy, and showed its possible clinical application to various disorders in vocal folds. However, a more detailed description about the software and the mathematical formulation used in this system is needed for the reproduction of similar systems. The composition of hardwares, user-interface and detail procedures including mathematical equations in videostrobokymography software is presented in this study. As an initial clinical trial, videostrobokymography was applied to the preoperative and postoperative videostroboscopic images of 15 patients with Reinke's edema. On preoperative examination, videostrobokymograms showed irregular pattern of mucosal wave and, in some patients, a relatively constant glottic gap during phonation. After the operation, the voice quality of all patients was improved in acoustic and aerodynamic assessments, and videostrobokymography showed clearly improved mucosal waves (change in open quotient: mean +/- SD= 0.11 +/- 0.05).

CoMed: a real-time collaborative medicine system.

CoMed is a prototype of a real-time collaborative medicine system that allows medical specialists to share patient records and to communicate with each other on the Internet. CoMed consists of a multimedia medical database containing relevant information about laryngeal diseases and a real-time collaboration system including a teleconferencing system, a whiteboard and a chatting system. CoMed is web-based. We adopted the object database O2 and CORBA technologies for the multimedia medical database. Therefore, our system can provide the flexibility, extensibility and location transparency of patient databases. We developed a SeeYou Active X control for the teleconferencing system and a Java applet for the whiteboard and chatting system. CoMed improves the efficiency of the overall system by separating the servers on a UNIX machine and a Windows NT machine. CoMed can be utilized for stand-alone research, for collaborative consultations among medical specialists and for a telemedicine in participation with the patients and medical specialists. Our system can be extended easily into other types of the collaborative systems, such as collaborative distance learning, collaborative science system, etc.

Videostrobokymography: a new method for the quantitative analysis of vocal fold vibration.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a new analysis method for the quantitative assessment of vibration of the vocal folds, using conventional videostroboscopic image data. METHODS: We used prerecorded videostroboscopic images to evaluate quantitatively the vibration of the vocal folds. Successive images were converted as digital images by means of an image-grabbing board, processed for analysis, and reconstructed as kymograms by rearranging the same lines of all processed images along the time axis. RESULTS: We developed a new technique for evaluating the vibration of the vocal folds. The vibrations of multiple vocal fold regions were easily and objectively evaluated by this technique. The objective parameters, such as open quotient and asymmetry index, could be obtained easily using this technique. CONCLUSIONS: Videostrobokymography demonstrated objectively the vibrations of several vocal fold regions at the same time. This technique has the potential to be a new tool to analyze and monitor the pathological changes and treatment results of vocal fold movement in a more refined quantitative fashion, using videostroboscopic images.

Development of videostrobokymography for the quantitative analysis of laryngeal vibratory pattern.

We developed a new analysis technique for the assessment of irregular vibratory movement of vocal folds. Successive frames of pre-recorded video images from videostroboscopy were transferred to computer memory and vibratory track of one selected point was described as a waveform by displaying the same lines of all frames along the vertical direction. Glottal area waveform, which was normalized with glottal length, was composed to quantitatively assess the overall vibratory pattern of vocal folds. By applying this technique, irregular vibratory patterns of multiple regions, such as asynchronized registration of glottal cycles, could be easily visualized. It would be possible to monitor and analyze the pathologic changes of vocal fold movement by means of this newly developed system.