A Supporting Platform for Semi-Automatic Hyoid Bone Tracking and Parameter Extraction from Videofluoroscopic Images for the Diagnosis of Dysphagia Patients

In this study, a software platform was developed that can assist in the VF diagnosis of dysphagia by automatically extracting a two-dimensional moving trajectory of the hyoid bone as well as 11 temporal and kinematic parameters. Fifty VF swallowing videos containing both non-mandible-overlapped and mandible-overlapped cases from eight patients with dysphagia of various etiologies and 19 videos from ten healthy controls were utilized for performance verification. Percent errors of hyoid bone tracking were 1.7  ± 2.1% for non-overlapped images and 4.2 ± 4.8% for overlapped images. Correlation coefficients between manually extracted and automatically extracted moving trajectories of the hyoid bone were 0.986 ± 0.017 (X-axis) and 0.992  ± 0.006 (Y-axis) for non-overlapped images, and 0.988  ± 0.009 (X-axis) and 0.991  ± 0.006 (Y-axis) for overlapped images. Based on the experimental results, we believe that the proposed platform has the potential to improve the satisfaction of both clinicians and patients with dysphagia.
Source: Dysphagia - Category: Speech Therapy Source Type: research