[Combined genioglossus advancement (ACMG): inferior sagittal mandibular osteotomy with genioglossus advancement and stabilization with suture in patients with OSAS. Preliminary clinical results].

Surgical treatment of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) centres on the identification of the level of obstruction of the upper airway and the choice of the most suitable procedure to correct it. Shaping of the retrolingual hypopharyngeal space is among the most difficult to achieve because it stems from an alteration of the soft tissue of the tongue, from the hypopharynx, and is correlated to the contraction pattern of the genioglossus and the pharyngeal constrictors. We propose a surgical technique of combined genioglossus advancement (CGA) in cases of anteroposterior collapse of the retrolingual airway. Four patients affected by OSAS (RDI average = 22 events/hour), evaluated as type III obstruction in the Fujita classification, presenting the indications for surgical management of retrolingual hypopharingeal obstruction, underwent treatment. They were studied by means of a guided medical history, fiberopy endoscopy evaluation and Muller maneuver, cephalometry, endocrine tests, pneumological examinations and polysomnography. The technique proposed consists in the advancement of the genioglossus muscle by means of a bone screw on the mandibular symphysis, according to the method described by Powell, associated with the stabilization of the base of the tongue with a suspension suture, following the technique originally described by the Author and DeRowe, but without using the Repose kit. This technique makes it possible to access the retrolingual site of obstruction more effectively, more economically and with no increase in morbidity when compared with the individual techniques. In all of the patients, the only complaints regarded dysaesthesia in the area of the lower lip innerved by the mental nerve for 2-5 weeks and moderate odynophagia for 2-3 weeks; there were no haemorrhages or infections. Deglutition of fluids and solids was resumed on the 3rd post-operative day. Polysomnography after 6 months documented three positive results and one partial result, on the basis of Sher's criteria. In conclusion, the CGA technique calls for advancement of the genioglossus insertion tubercle and stabilization of the tongue to be carried out at the same time, without using the Repose kit. The CGA technique is minimally invasive and does not involve cutaneous incisions, making it a therapeutic strategy which may be inserted in a multilevel protocol excluding transcutaneous access. It is therefore proposed for type III or type IIb cases in the Fujita classification.