The Impact of Clinical and Craniofacial Changes on the Surgical Outcomes of Lateral Pharyngoplasty in the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Objective To verify if maxillomandibular retrusion, obesity, and increased neck circumference are factors of worse surgical prognosis for lateral pharyngoplasty in apneic patients.Materials and Methods We evaluated 53 patients with obstructive sleep apnea who underwent lateral pharyngoplasty. Clinical evaluation was performed before the surgical procedure and included the measurement of body mass index (BMI) in kg/m( 2) , neck circumference in centimeters, and a clinical evaluation of the facial profile obtained through the natural position of the oriented head. The polysomnographic evaluation was performed with at a minimum of 6 months after surgery, and polysomnographic results were correlated with the preoperative clinical data.Results The mean age of the patients was 38.8 years; the mean BMI was of 29.28kg/m( 2) , and 84.9% of the sample was composed of men and 15.1% of women. There was a significant reduction in the mean value of the main respiratory parameters verified by polysomnography, such as apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) from 31.60 events per hour to 8.15 ( p < 0.001); NadirO( 2) went from 81% to 85% ( p = 0.002) and mean oxyhemoglobin saturation from 94% to 95% ( p = 0.024). It was also observed that the greater the maxillomandibular retrusion, the lower the mean reduction of the AHI after surgery. The increase in neck circumference proved to be a factor associated with the surgical outcome, and for each 1-cm decrease in the neck circumference, the chance of surgical success increased 1.2-fold.Conclusion Lateral pharyngoplasty is an efficient surgical obstructive sleep apnea treatment. The lower the neck circumference measurement, the greater the chances of surgical success, and clinically evaluated maxillomandibular retrusion can reduce the magnitude of improvement in respiratory parameters after lateral pharyngoplasty in apneic patients.