Statement of problem

In spite of a digital workflow playing an important role in the intraoral prosthetic rehabilitation of patients with head and neck cancer, information about how it has been implemented and its clinical implications is sparse.

Purpose

The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the use of a digital workflow in the intraoral prosthetic rehabilitation of patients with head and neck cancer by analyzing the frequency and type of the digital procedures used.

Material and methods

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. The following terms were applied for the search conducted in the MEDLINE-PubMed, Cochrane, and SciELO databases: (prosthesis OR dental OR rehabilitation) AND (digital OR CAD-CAM OR intraoral scanner) AND (Cancer OR head neck). Articles that specified data on intraoral prosthetic treatment and analyzed the use of a digital workflow in the different prosthetic phases such as digital scanning and computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) in patients with head and neck cancer were included. Data from the frequency and type of digital procedures were analyzed.

Results

Thirteen articles were included, and all had incorporated CAD-CAM techniques in at least 1 of the prosthetic treatment stages (scanning, design, and/or fabrication). Only 1 patient was rehabilitated by using a completely digital workflow. The most frequent prosthetic treatment was an obturator (82.6%). Regarding the image capture method, the most used method was cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) (60.9%).

Conclusions

Most reports described the partial use of a digital workflow in the intraoral prosthetic rehabilitation of patients treated for head and neck cancer. A digital workflow is used for specific stages but not for the entire process. More studies are needed to evaluate digital systems, ideally comparing parameters with the conventional method, and to determine whether this technique has more relevant clinical implications.

中文翻译：

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用于头颈癌患者口内修复康复的数字程序的频率和类型：系统评价

问题陈述

尽管数字化工作流程在头颈癌患者的口腔内修复体康复中发挥着重要作用，但有关其实施方式及其临床意义的信息却很少。

目的

本系统评价的目的是通过分析使用的数字程序的频率和类型，评估数字工作流程在头颈癌患者口内修复康复中的使用。

材料与方法

遵循了系统评价和元分析 (PRISMA) 指南的首选报告项目。以下术语用于在 MEDLINE-PubMed、Cochrane 和 SciELO 数据库中进行的搜索：（假体或牙科或康复）和（数字或 CAD-CAM 或口内扫描仪）和（癌症或头颈部）。文章包括指定口内修复治疗数据并分析数字化工作流程在不同修复阶段的使用，例如头颈癌患者的数字扫描和计算机辅助设计和计算机辅助制造 (CAD-CAM)。分析了来自数字程序的频率和类型的数据。

结果

纳入了 13 篇文章，所有文章都在至少 1 个假肢治疗阶段（扫描、设计和/或制造）中采用了 CAD-CAM 技术。通过使用完全数字化的工作流程，只有 1 名患者康复。最常见的修复治疗是闭孔（82.6%）。关于图像捕获方法，最常用的方法是锥形束计算机断层扫描 (CBCT) (60.9%)。

结论

大多数报告描述了数字工作流程在头颈癌患者口内修复康复中的部分使用。数字工作流程用于特定阶段，但不适用于整个过程。需要更多的研究来评估数字系统，理想情况下将参数与传统方法进行比较，并确定该技术是否具有更相关的临床意义。