title: Obstructive sleep apnea: diagnosis with ultrafast CT.
abstract: Patients with sleep-disordered breathing often have physiologic and anatomic abnormalities of the upper airway that are demonstrable while awake. An ultrafast computed tomographic (CT) scanner was used to measure the oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal cross-sectional areas of 11 patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Twenty-four healthy volunteers served as control subjects. The percentage of change in cross-sectional area during quiet tidal breathing was used as a measure of airway compliance. Compared with weight-matched control subjects, patients with obstructive sleep apnea had smaller oropharyngeal airways (40.4 vs 177.8 mm2) (P less than .001) and smaller nasopharyngeal airways (31.3 vs 134.2 mm2) (P less than .001). In addition, their oropharyngeal airways were significantly more compliant (75% vs 27%) (P less than .001). Patients with obstructive sleep apnea are characterized by a small, collapsible oropharyngeal airway and by nasopharyngeal airway narrowing. These abnormalities can cause sleep-disordered breathing. Ultrafast CT scanning allows rapid, noninvasive assessment of airway variables.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City 52242.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Galvin
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rooholamini
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stanford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003187:Compliance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D009960:Oropharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed