Airway Disease

The focus of Dr. Frank-Ito's research is the application of computational methods to investigate physiology and pathophysiology of the nose, larynx, and ear. In particular, he is interested in the development of clinically applicable algorithms to efficiently identify the effects of pathological abnormality on functioning of the nose, larynx, and ear. Such algorithms will permit efficient detection and diagnosis of airway disease and help clinicians determine objective and systematic treatment options that will optimize patient outcomes. Briefly, my primary interests in the nose are: (1) to study the impact of sinonasal diseases on nasal airflow dynamics, olfactory function, and intranasal drug delivery; and (2) to investigate the relationship between nasal cavity morphology and nasal function. His research objectives in the larynx are to model laryngeal aerodynamic and aeroacoustic patterns in the healthy and pathological larynx and to model topical drug deposition in the larynx. In the ear, he is interested in quantifying the influence of temporal bone anatomy both on hearing loss and on vestibular function. 

The Computational Modeling Research Laboratory combines computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling with three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction to investigate pathophysiology of the ear, nose and throat, as well as the effects of pathologic abnormality on normal functioning of the ear, nose, and throat.