Zhang Lisong, Li Shuhua, Cai Chao
Department of Otolaryngology, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Beijing, 100015, China.
Lin Chuang Er Bi Yan Hou Tou Jing Wai Ke Za Zhi. 2010 Aug;24(16):746-9.
To explore the impact of nasopharynx and palatum durum on the pathogenesis and severity of OSAHS patients via CT scan, and to establish a foundation to select the suitable surgical procedures.
Thirty nine OSAHS patients diagnosed by PSG and 30 normal adults were included in this study. Successive CT scanning were undertaken from roof of nasopharynx to glottis and then the CT scan slices were reconstructed in sagittal plane through Efilm software. The parameters were measured in the midline of the nasopharynx,the longest section of the hard palate and then were analyzed by t test.
The subspinale-posterior nasal spine (A-PNS) of OSAHS patients were longer than those of normal adults. The posterior nasal spine-culminating point of nasopharynx (PNS-R) and posterior space of hard palate (PNS-B) of OSAHS patients were less than those of normal adults. A 95% confidence interval were calculated from the parameters of 30 normal adults. Among 39 OSAHS patients, the A-PNS in 6 patients were longer than the top limit of normal,the PNS-R in 10 patients and the PNS-B in 16 patients were less than the low limit of normal adults, 2 patients were seen the differences of both A-PNS and PNS, 5 were seen the differences of both PNS-R and PNS-B, and 1 were seen the differences of A-PNS and PNS-B. The AHI of 24 OSAHS patients with smaller nasopharynx and longer hard palate were larger than that of the other 15 OSAHS patients, meanwhile the SaO2 of the former patients were lower than the latter.
Though the narrow of the upper airway in OSAHS patients mainly attribute to the nasopharynx, the nasopharyngeal size and the length of hard palate are also involved in the pathogenesis and severity of OSAHS and should be considered when choosing the surgical procedures.
