# Development of a Patient-Specific Surgical Planning Tool for Type I Laryngoplasty

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2021 · $458,041

## Abstract

Project Summary
Voice disorders are debilitating and can lead to significant socioemotional consequences, loss of income, and
long-term disability. Among otolaryngology evaluations for dysphonia, iatrogenic etiologies (most consequent
from thyroidectomy or anterior cervical disc fusion surgery) account for an estimated 50% new cases of unilat-
eral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) annually. The symptomatic burden of UVFP on patients is significant with
an estimated 100% of identified cases experiencing dysphonia, 60% dyspnea, and 75% dysphagia,
which, in severe cases, can lead to aspiration pneumonia and death. Treatment requires medialization of
the paralyzed vocal fold to reestablish glottal closure. Several modalities exist to achieve closure, including in-
jection augmentation. However, injection augmentation is effective at only temporarily alleviating symptoms,
and surgical intervention is ultimately necessary in more than half of patients diagnosed with UVFP (Francis et
al. 2016). Permanent framework surgery remains the gold standard for patients that are beyond the period of
spontaneous recovery (usually 6-12 months). The current proposal focuses specifically on framework surgery,
of which type I laryngoplasty is most common. Indications for this procedure extend well beyond UVFP to include a growing population of patients with glottal insufficiency from other causes (e.g., presbyphonia). Although these patients benefit from type I laryngoplasty, surgical techniques and revision rates vary widely and
are largely volume-dependent and experiential. Unfortunately, such variation produces inconsistent and undesirable clinical outcomes. Thus, there exists a significant need for a clinical tool to assist surgeons with pre-operative planning and to improve patient outcomes. To address this need, we have assembled a multidisciplinary group of engineers, scientists, and surgeons to work towards a patient-specific surgical
planning tool for type I laryngoplasty (PhonoSim). It is envisioned that a tool that incorporates the surgical
implant, and captures the individual-specific features of the patient’s laryngeal anatomy can be used in surgical
planning to optimize the shape, size, and position of implants used in type I laryngoplasty to improve clinical
outcomes. This proposal leverages current advances in microimaging, computational modeling, and
high-performance computing of biological systems to support the development and validation of a
surgical planning tool for type I laryngoplasty. Our preliminary work has focused on: 1) development of a
versatile computational approach for the simulation of 3D fluid-structure interactions involving large deformations, and 2) validation of computational models of phonation and for the first time the modeling of subject-specific vibratory characteristics. The goal of this proposal is to empirically test the modeling and validation approaches developed in our preliminary work to produce a clinical tool to be used ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10064072
- **Project number:** 5R01DC016236-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Bernard Rousseau
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $458,041
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-20 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10064072

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10064072, Development of a Patient-Specific Surgical Planning Tool for Type I Laryngoplasty (5R01DC016236-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10064072. Licensed CC0.

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