Abstract
Currently, many clinicians use the Yanagihara, House-Brackmann grading systems (H-B) to assess FNP. Although these assessments are performed by experts, inter- and intra-observer disagreements have been demonstrated. The quantitative and objective analysis of FNP would be preferred to monitor functional changes in patients with FNP. The purpose of this study was to introduce a three-dimensional (3-D) image generation system for the analysis of FNP and to show the correlation between the severity of FNP assessed by this method and two conventional systems. We analyzed 42 patients. Five independent facial motions were recorded with our system and the images were then analyzed using our software. The regional and gross facial symmetry were analyzed. The predicted scores were calculated and compared to the Yanagihara and H-B grading scores. The results showed that 3-D analysis could measure mouth movement in the anteroposterior direction, whereas two dimensional analysis could not. The system results showed good correlation with the Yanagihara and H-B grading scales. This system can produce consistent results that align with two conventional systems. Therefore, this method is ideally suited for use in a routine clinical setting.
