ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To compare patients with moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) undergoing traditional single and multilevel sleep surgery to those undergoing upper airway stimulation (UAS). STUDY DESIGN: Case control study comparing retrospective cohort of patients undergoing traditional sleep surgery to patients undergoing UAS enrolled in the ADHERE registry. SETTING: 8 multinational academic medical centers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 233 patients undergoing prior single or multilevel traditional sleep surgery and meeting study inclusion criteria were compared to 465 patients from the ADHERE registry who underwent UAS. We compared preoperative and postoperative demographic, quality of life, and polysomnographic data. We also evaluated treatment response rates. RESULTS: The pre and postoperative apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was 33.5 and 15 in the traditional sleep surgery group and 32 and 10 in the UAS group. The postoperative AHI in the UAS group was significantly lower. The pre and postoperative Epworth sleepiness scores (ESS) were 12 and 6 in both the traditional sleep surgery and UAS groups. Subgroup analysis evaluated those patients undergoing single level palate and multilevel palate and tongue base traditional sleep surgeries. The UAS group had a significantly lower postoperive AHI than both traditional sleep surgery subgroups. The UAS group had a higher percentage of patients reaching surgical success, defined as a postoperative AHI <20 with a 50% reduction from preoperative severity. CONCLUSION: UAS offers significantly better control of AHI severity than traditional sleep surgery. Quality life improvements were similar between groups.
Subject(s)
Electric Stimulation Therapy , Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures , Postoperative Complications , Quality of Life , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive , Airway Management/methods , Case-Control Studies , Comparative Effectiveness Research , Electric Stimulation Therapy/adverse effects , Electric Stimulation Therapy/methods , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures/adverse effects , Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures/methods , Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care/statistics & numerical data , Palate/surgery , Polysomnography/methods , Polysomnography/statistics & numerical data , Postoperative Complications/diagnosis , Postoperative Complications/epidemiology , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/diagnosis , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/physiopathology , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/therapy , Tongue/surgeryABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Response to upper airway stimulation (UAS) is associated with the degree of airway opening during stimulation. UAS programming may affect this opening. The objective of this study was to examine airway changes in response to five different electrode configurations programmable within the Inspire UAS system. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective single-arm cohort study. METHODS: Subjects who underwent UAS implantation were recruited for a prospective single-arm cohort study during UAS device activation. Functional thresholds were recorded for all settings. Awake nasopharyngoscopy was performed to examine the retropalatal (RP) and retroglossal (RG) regions at rest and during activation with all settings at their functional thresholds. Cross-sectional measurements were made by two blinded reviewers and reported as percent change in airway size. RESULTS: Sixteen patients were included. The standard setting (+-+) resulted in the greatest change in RP area in 43.8% of patients. An alternative setting resulted in greatest change in 56.2% of patients (--- and o-o in 18.8% each, -o- in 12.5%, and -+- in 6.3% of patients). Average response to all five settings was utilized to classify degree of palatoglossal coupling. Most patients had some enlargement (20%-70% change in RP area, 43.8%) or no enlargement (<20% change, 43.8%), whereas a minority of patients (12.5%) had marked enlargement (>70% change). RP and RG expansion were not correlated. CONCLUSION: Degree of RP expansion varied among patients and settings. Although the standard setting resulted in greatest RP change in a plurality of patients, over half had a greater response to an alternative setting. Future studies should address whether choice of setting based on RP expansion results in improved outcomes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 Laryngoscope, 131:218-223, 2021.