Bradley T D, Brown I G, Grossman R F, Zamel N, Martinez D, Phillipson E A, Hoffstein V
N Engl J Med. 1986 Nov 20;315(21):1327-31. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198611203152105.
We measured pharyngeal cross-sectional area and its change with alterations in lung volume in 10 subjects who snored and had obstructive sleep apnea, 6 subjects who snored and did not have obstructive sleep apnea, and 9 subjects who did not snore. Pharyngeal area was measured with use of an acoustic-reflection technique. We found that snorers with and without sleep apnea had a significantly smaller mean (+/- SE) pharyngeal cross-sectional area (4.1 +/- 0.2 and 3.7 +/- 0.9 cm2, respectively) at functional residual capacity than nonsnorers (5.4 +/- 0.5 cm2, P less than 0.025). When lung volume decreased from functional residual capacity to residual volume, both nonsnorers and snorers with sleep apnea had a decrease in pharyngeal area (from 5.4 +/- 0.5 to 4.5 +/- 0.4 cm2 and 4.1 +/- 0.2 to 3.4 +/- 0.2 cm2, respectively), whereas snorers without sleep apnea had no such decrease, suggesting that their pharynxes were less collapsible at low lung volumes. We conclude that snorers with and without sleep apnea have smaller pharyngeal cross-sectional areas than nonsnorers and that snorers with sleep apnea have a further decrease as lung volume falls.
我们对10名打鼾且患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的受试者、6名打鼾但未患阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的受试者以及9名不打鼾的受试者的咽部横截面积及其随肺容量变化的情况进行了测量。咽部面积采用声反射技术进行测量。我们发现，在功能残气量时，患有和未患有睡眠呼吸暂停的打鼾者的平均（±标准误）咽部横截面积（分别为4.1±0.2和3.7±0.9平方厘米）显著小于不打鼾者（5.4±0.5平方厘米，P<0.025）。当肺容量从功能残气量降至残气量时，不打鼾者和患有睡眠呼吸暂停的打鼾者的咽部面积均减小（分别从5.4±0.5降至4.5±0.4平方厘米以及从4.1±0.2降至3.4±0.2平方厘米），而未患有睡眠呼吸暂停的打鼾者则没有这种减小，这表明他们的咽部在低肺容量时较不易塌陷。我们得出结论，患有和未患有睡眠呼吸暂停的打鼾者的咽部横截面积均小于不打鼾者，且患有睡眠呼吸暂停的打鼾者在肺容量下降时咽部面积会进一步减小。
