Gustatory interface for operative assessment and taste decoding in patients with tongue cancer
Taste, a pivotal sense modality, plays a fundamental role in discerning flavors and evaluating the potential harm of food, thereby contributing to human survival, physical and mental health. Patients with tongue cancer may experience a loss of taste following extensive surgical resection with flap reconstruction. Here, we designed a gustatory interface that enables the non-invasive detection of tongue electrical activities for a comprehensive operative assessment. Moreover, it decodes gustatory information from the reconstructed tongue without taste buds. Our gustatory interface facilitates the recording and analysis of electrical activities on the tongue, yielding an electrical mapping across the entire tongue surface, which delineates the safe margin for surgical management and assesses flap viability for postoperative structure monitoring and prompt intervention. Furthermore, the gustatory interface helps patients discern tastes with an accuracy of 97.8%. Our invention offers a promising approach to clinical assessment and management and holds potential for improving the quality of life for individuals with tongue cancer.
Authors
- Zhitao Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4277-4461)
- Jizhi Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7606-3896)
- Chi Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1630-5389)
- Tiger H. Tao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6583-5039)
- Erping Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0568-294X)
- Guo Bai
- Xiaoling Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0099-2260)
- Xiner Wang
- Zhaohan Chen
- Zhiyuan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4619-5117)
- Meng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8157-0763)
- Liuyang Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9896-4382)
- Qianyang Xie
Institutions
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN)
- Guangdong Polytechnic of Science and Technology (CN)
- Shanghai Stomatological Hospital (CN)
- Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital (CN)
- Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology (CN)
- Ten Chen Hospital (TW)
- National Clinical Research (US)
- Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (CN)
- Institute of Refrigeration (GB)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-10-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53379-y
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.24
Funders
- Shanghai Municipal Health Commission
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
- Shanghai Rising-Star Program
- National Science and Technology Major Project
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association