Objective: To introduce a highly innovative imaging method to study the complex velopharyngeal (VP) system and introduce the potential future clinical applications of a VP atlas in cleft care.
Design: Four healthy adults participated in a 20-min dynamic magnetic resonance imaging scan that included a high-resolution T2-weighted turbo-spin-echo 3D structural scan and five custom dynamic speech imaging scans. Subjects repeated a variety of phrases when in the scanner as real-time audio was captured.
Setting: Multisite institution and clinical setting.
Participants: Four adult subjects with normal anatomy were recruited for this study.
Main outcome: Establishment of 4-D atlas constructed from dynamic VP MRI data.
Results: Three-dimensional dynamic magnetic resonance imaging was successfully used to obtain high quality dynamic speech scans in an adult population. Scans were able to be re-sliced in various imaging planes. Subject-specific MR data were then reconstructed and time-aligned to create a velopharyngeal atlas representing the averaged physiological movements across the four subjects.
Conclusions: The current preliminary study examined the feasibility of developing a VP atlas for potential clinical applications in cleft care. Our results indicate excellent potential for the development and use of a VP atlas for assessing VP physiology during speech.
Keywords: MRI; imaging; speech; velopharyngeal dysfunction.