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Prognostic significance of age and tonsillectomy in uvulopalatopharyngoplasty
Author(s) -
Stevenson E. W.,
Turner Gary T.,
Sutton Frank D.,
Doekel Robert C.,
Pegram Ver,
Hernandez Joe
Publication year - 1990
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 - 10.1288/00005537-199008000-00005
Subject(s) - uvulopalatopharyngoplasty , tonsillectomy , medicine , obstructive sleep apnea , statistical significance , clinical significance , apnea , surgery , anesthesia , polysomnography
The objective of this study was to analyze the results of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty on 133 adult patients with sleep apnea. This group of patients was subjected to computer analysis by a statistician. Two previously unreported observations were revealed: There was a straight line decline in measurable improvement with advancing age so, by age 60, there were no patients with improvement; and patients who had tonsillectomy as a part of the uvulopalatopharyngoplasty had a markedly increased success rate compared to those who did not have tonsils. These two previously unreported observations might have significance and value in establishing guidelines for preoperative prognostic predictions of success.