Obstructive Sleep Apnea: characterization of the obstructive site and type of collapse.
Andresa Santos da Silva, Fabio Augusto Winckler Rabelo, Eric Thuler and 2 others
PMID 35584414WHAT IT FOUND
Drug-induced sleep endoscopy identified specific upper airway collapse sites in 11 men with obstructive sleep apnea.
The velopharynx was the most common site, followed by the tongue, oropharynx, and epiglottis. This mapping helps target orofacial myofunctional therapy exercises.
Key findings
01Velopharyngeal collapse was the most frequently observed site, occurring in five of the eleven cases, followed by lingual (three cases), oropharyngeal (two cases), and epiglottic (two cases).
02Collapse types varied by site: velopharyngeal cases showed anteroposterior, lateral, or circumferential patterns, while oropharyngeal and lingual cases primarily showed lateral and anteroposterior patterns respectively.
03Identifying the specific site and type of collapse via endoscopy allows clinicians to select orofacial myofunctional therapy exercises that target the affected musculature without reproducing the obstruction.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only 11 patients, all male with moderate OSA and BMI under 30, which limits the generalizability of the findings to women, severe OSA cases, or those with obesity. The design is a case series without a control group, so it describes patterns of collapse but cannot determine the effectiveness of any treatment. The frequency of collapse sites cannot be generalized to the broader OSA population due to the small sample size and specific selection criteria.
Declared interests
The authors did not report any conflicts of interest. The study was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP).
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the frequency of collapse sites found in this study applies to all patients. The sample was small (11 men) and excluded patients with high BMI or comorbidities, so these patterns are descriptive of this specific subgroup rather than the general OSA population.