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Severity of sleep apnea as a predictor of successful treatment by palatopharyngoplasty
Author(s) -
Caldarelli David D.,
Cartwright Rosalind,
Lilie Jamie K.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1288/00005537-198609000-00004
Subject(s) - medicine , polysomnography , obstructive sleep apnea , apnea , sleep apnea , anesthesia
As awareness and understanding of obstructive sleep apnea has increased so has the number of treatments for this disorder. Options include surgical procedures: tracheostomy, palatopharyngoplasty(PPP), and mandibular advancement. Other treatments are medication, nasal CPAP, Tongue Retaining Device, and a position alarm. With these numerous choices available, it is important that reliable indicators be developed to guide treatment choice. And although PPP surgery is a one‐time intervention with possibility of permanent correction, reports of percentages of successful treatment have varied widely from 85% to 0%. This has led us to investigate predictors of successful treatment. Twenty‐two patients treated with PPP following their diagnosis by standard clinical polysomnography were restudied an average of 8 weeks later. When 11 successful cases were compared to 11 unsuccessful cases, successes were found to be initially more severely apneic (X AI=90.55 versus 49.45). Palatopharyngoplasty appears to be most appropriate for the sleep apnea patient whose apnea index is 70 or above and less effective for milder cases.