Measuring and Predicting Success of Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients

Park, Y H; Park, S Y

Abstract

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty(UPPP) is an operation that is frequently performed for the patient of obstructive sleep apnea(OSA). A major problem has been to select those patients who will have a good response to UPPP. We compared preoperative and postoperative polysomnography(PSG) in 20 patients to evaluate the success rate of the operation. Each subject underwent a cephalometric roentgenogram, and fiberoptic nasopharyngoscopy with Mueller maneuver was applied in roentgenogram and fiberoptic nasopharyngoscopy with Mueller maneuver was applied in preop evaluation of patients with OSA. No PSG parameter could accurately predict the changes in sleep after UPPP. There were no significant differences between the responders and the nonresponders concerning the cephalometric analysis, the type of obstruction by Mueller maneuver, and body mass index(BMI) . The conclusions of this study are thus that UPPP is an effective treatment for the OSAS with a high success rate, but that there is no single useful parameter predicting the success of the operation.