Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is a highly prevalent respiratory disorder. The knowledge of respiratory flow is an essential prerequisite for the establishment and development of OSAHS physiology, pathology, and clinical medicine. We made the first in-vitro experimental attempt to measure the oscillatory flow velocity in a computed tomography (CT) scanned extra-thoracic airway (ETA) model with OSAHS by using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. In order to mimic respiration flow, three techniques were adopted to address difficulties in in-vitro experimental modeling: (1) fabricating the obstructive ETA measurement section with the CT-scanned data of an OSAHS patient airway; (2) maintaining the measurement accuracy by using the optical index-matching technique; (3) reproducing the oscillatory respiratory flow rates with the compiled clinical data of transient tidal volumes. The in-vitro measurements of oscillatory respiratory flow velocity manifested the time evolution of the complex OSAHS flow patterns, and the potential wall collapse of the ETA model with OSAHS.
Optical Index Matching, Flexible Electrospun Substrates for Seamless Organic Photocapacitive Sensors
