• Samuel Stewart, June Huang, Alok Mohorikar, Andrew Jones, SueEllen Holmes, and Stuart G MacKay.
• Department of Otolaryngology, The Wollongong Hospital, Wollongong, Australia.
• Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2016 Mar 1; 154 (3): 553-7.

ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) outcomes of upper airway adult obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) reconstructive surgery, as compared with outcomes of suboptimal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, in response to reviews claiming unreliable surgical AHI reduction.Study DesignProspective cohort study.SettingSingle-surgeon series at medical centers within Wollongong, Australia.Subjects And MethodsAdult patients with OSA who were partial device users or who refused CPAP were considered candidates for upper airway surgery (N = 48). Subjects underwent physical examination and polysomnography before and after surgery. Three groups were delineated on the nature of their suboptimal CPAP therapy: group 1, partially using CPAP or refusing long-term CPAP despite adherence (with available download data); group 2, unable or refusing to use CPAP with 2 sleep studies over time; group 3, unable or refusing to use CPAP with 1 sleep study over time. Collected data included demographics and AHI outcomes.ResultsAverage AHI across all 3 groups with suboptimal CPAP therapy before surgery was 30.24 ± 17.17 events per hour sleep, as compared with the average postoperative AHI of 7.65 ± 6.59 events per hour sleep. This decrease was shown to be statistically significant with Wilcoxon signed-rank test (P < .0001).ConclusionsAHI outcomes are superior with surgery in untreated or suboptimally treated adult OSA patients prescribed CPAP.© American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2015.

23 keywords...

hide…