[Upper airway occlusion sites of obstructive sleep apnea].
OBJECTIVE
To locate the obstruction sites in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) during sleep by MRI imaging and dynamic fiberoptic pharyngoscopy.


METHODS
Fifteen OSAS patients confirmed by polysomnography (PSG) underwent ultrafast MR imaging during sleep. Their sequential midline sagittal and axial images were obtained and displayed in the cine mode. Then we examined the upper airway of the retropalate region (RP), retroglottal region (RG) and epiglottal region (EPG). We also did dynamic fiberoptic pharyngoscopy examination during sleep in 8 patients in another night.


RESULTS
Among the 15 patients, 3 had only RP region obstruction, 2 had only RG region obstruction, and the other 10 had both RP & RG airway obstruction. In the 8 cases monitored with both MRI and fiberoptic pharyngoscopy, the results obtained from the 2 methods were identical.


CONCLUSIONS
MRI and fiberoptic pharyngoscopy are useful in locating the pharyngeal airway obstruction sites of OSAS patients and would be helpful in selecting treatment measures.
Lin
Z
Z
Department of Otolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery, Affiliated Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100730, China. bjsent@public3.bta.net.cn
Zhang
H
H
Wang
T
T
Li
C
C
Bai
Z
Z
D000328:Adult; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004724:Endoscopy; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis*