The structural changes of upper airway and newly developed sleep breathing disorders after surgical treatment in class III malocclusion subjects.

Bimaxillary surgery is the traditional treatment of choice for correcting class III malocclusion which is reported to cause an alteration of oropharyngeal structures and upper airway narrowing that might be a predisposing factor for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This study aimed to analyze sleep parameters in class III malocclusion subjects and ascertain the prevalence of snoring or OSA following bimaxillary surgery.A total of 22 patients with Le Fort I osteotomy and mandibular setback for class III malocclusion were prospectively enrolled. All patients received endoscopic examination, cephalometry, 3-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT), and sleep study twice at 1 month before and 3 months after surgery.The patient population consisted of 5 males and 17 females with a mean body mass index of 22.5 kg/m and mean age of 22.1 years. No patients complained of sleep-related symptoms, and the results of sleep study showed normal values before surgery. Three patients (13%) were newly diagnosed with mild or moderate OSA and 6 patients (27%) showed increased loudness of snoring (over 40 dB) after bimaxillary surgery. According to cephalometric analysis and 3D-CT results, the retropalatal and retroglossal areas were significantly narrowed in class III malocclusion patients, showing snoring and sleep apnea after surgery. In addition, the total volume of the upper airway was considerably reduced following surgery in the same patients.Postoperative narrowing of the upper airway and a reduction of total upper airway volume can be induced, and causes snoring and OSA in class III malocclusion subjects following bimaxillary surgery.

Impact of control of blood glucose level during treatment of sudden deafness in diabetics: relationship with prognosis.

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of control of blood glucose level during treatment of sudden deafness. A retrospective study was performed involving 197 patients from January, 2011 to September, 2015. All patients were administrated prednisolone (Pharmaprednisolone tab®, 5 mg/T; KoreaPharma) p.o under the following regimen: 60 mg/day for 4 days, 40 mg/day for 2 days, 30 mg/day for 1 day, 20 mg/day for 1 day, and 10 mg/day for 2 days. During treatment, pure tone audiometry and blood glucose level were investigated for each patient and the results were statistically analyzed. Mean hearing improvement was 19.2 dB for the non-diabetes group and 24.8 dB for the diabetes group. The greater improvement for diabetics was not statistically significant (p = 0.146). Hearing improvement was 25.1 dB for subjects with mean blood glucose <200 mg/dl and 24.6 dB for subjects with mean blood glucose >200 mg/dl; the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.267). Mean blood glucose level was 200.8 mg/dl for subjects with hearing improvement >20 dB and 181.8 mg/dl for subjects with hearing improvement <20 dB; the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.286). Control of blood glucose level during treatment of sudden deafness does not have a direct effect on prognosis.

The Potential Significance of Concha Bullosa During Nasotracheal Intubation.

The authors experienced a case of severe epistaxis caused by accidental partial middle turbinectomy during nasotracheal intubation, which the patient had bilateral concha bullosa narrowing the nasal airway. Although anesthesiologist checked nasal airway through subjective symptoms and the size of both nostrils, they tend to overlook common anatomic variation, concha bullosa, and can injure turbinate structures. Therefore, preoperative computed tomography images should be carefully evaluated for the possibility of concha bullosa, which narrows nasal airway and induces the traumatic injury or epistaxis during nasotracheal intubation.

Efficacy of continuous wound infiltration of local anesthetic for pain relief after gynecologic laparoscopy.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of analgesia provided by continuous ropivacaine wound infiltration after gynecologic laparoscopy. METHODS: Sixty patients who underwent gynecologic laparoscopy at Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea, between March and May 2012 were randomized to receive either intravenous fentanyl and ketorolac infusion on demand by patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA group, n=31) or continuous wound infiltration of local ropivacaine (CWI group, n=29). Postoperative pain and postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) were assessed via a visual analog scale. The number of patients who requested rescue analgesia was recorded. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in postoperative pain between the 2 groups, but more patients requested rescue analgesia in the CWI group than in the IV PCA group in 24 hours (18 versus 9 patients, respectively; P=0.010). The PONV scores at 12 and 24 hours were, respectively, 0.28 and 0.27 in the CWI group, and 0.71 and 0.73 in the IV PCA group (P=0.004). Nine patients requested cessation of IV PCA because of severe nausea or vomiting. CONCLUSION: Continuous ropivacaine wound infiltration was found to be as effective as patient-controlled analgesia for postoperative pain relief after gynecologic laparoscopy. This technique provides good analgesia with less opioid analgesic requirement and few adverse effects.