09-11, 12:15–12:45 (Europe/Istanbul), Phoniatrics 4 + Swallowing
The integration of digital technology into medicine marks a new era, and dysphagia management is no exception. Videofluoroscopic swallowing studies (VFSS) and fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) are commonly performed as standard assessments of swallowing function. VFSS is convenient for therapeutic assessment but lacks detailed structural resolution. FEES cannot assess oral function, aspiration or vocal fold movement during pharyngeal contraction.
Swallowing computed tomography (CT) visualizes four-dimensional swallowing dynamics by reconstructing continuous images acquired with a 320-row multidetector CT using dedicated software. The resulting dynamic images facilitate an intuitive understanding of structural changes in various regions. While swallowing CT offers clear dynamic imaging of structural changes, it also has limitations: high cost of the system and software, time-consuming reconstruction, and difficulty appreciating 3D anatomy due to 2D monitor display. To address these challenges, we developed, for the first time worldwide, a swallowing extended reality (XR) platform—comprising both virtual reality (VR) and three-dimensional visualization systems. These innovations enabled reduced reconstruction time, intuitive 3D visualization of structural changes, and significantly lower system costs.
Utilizing swallowing XR for swallowing CT and data visualization allows for the identification of conditions that were previously undetectable with conventional tests, providing more dynamic and spatial information than ever before. In this lecture, I will talk about swallowing CT and extended reality (ER) system in clinical practice.
The integration of digital technology into medicine marks a new era, and dysphagia management is no exception. Four-dimensional swallowing CT allows for detailed assessment of spatial dynamics during swallowing that cannot be captured with traditional modalities.
This presentation will focus on the clinical implementation of swallowing computed tomography (CT) and extended reality (XR) in the evaluation of dysphagia. There are special pathological conditions that can only be assessed with such dynamic three-dimensional images, which will also be presented.
2003 Resident, the University of Tokyo hospital
2005 Fellow, NTT Medical Center/ Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital/ Kameda Medical Center
2010 Medical staff, Department of Otolaryngology, the University of Tokyo hospital
2012 Visiting researcher, Department of Pathology, University of Michigan
2012 Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Tokyo
2018 (January to March) Visiting researcher, Department of Otolaryngology, University of California Davis
2021 Director, Associate Professor, Swallowing Center, the University of Tokyo Hospital