[The study of resilience of oral pharyngeal wall in patients with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome applied with multiple detector-row spiral CT].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the resilience of oral pharyngeal wall in patients with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).


METHODS
Applied with multiple detector-row spiral CT, 24 patients with OSAHS and 10 volunteers were scanned from nasopharynx to hypopharynx under the normal breathing state and the breathing state of Muller maneuver. The relevant dimensions of area and thickness of retropharyngeal soft tissue were measured in some level in imagings including the soft palatal level, the lingual level and the epiglottic level, then the resilience of these levels were calculated according to the above data.


RESULTS
The values of resilience of oral pharyngeal wall were larger in patients with OSAHS than those in the volunteers. The difference of the values of resilience in soft palatal level and lingual level was statistically significant (P < 0.01). The values of thickness of retropharyngeal soft tissue in the soft palatal level, the lingual level and the epiglottic level were respectively (7.5 +/- 2.2) mm, (4.8 +/- 1.3) mm, and (2.3 +/- 0.2) mm. There was a significant difference in the thickness in soft palatal level between the patients with OSAHS and the volunteers (P < 0.01). The indexes of Pearson correlation of between the thickness of retropharyngeal soft tissue and the resilience of the pharyngeal wall decreased from the soft palatal level to the epiglottic level in these two groups. Only the value of correlation coefficient in the soft palatal level was statistically significant in patients with OSAHS.


CONCLUSIONS
The study suggested that the resilience of pharyngeal wall could be quantitated by applying with multiple detector-row spiral CT. The resilience of oral pharyngeal and its correlation with thickness of retropharyngeal soft tissue may be the highest in soft palatal level.
Jiang
Manjie
M
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command, PLA, Nanjing, China. jiangmjdoc@163.com
Zhou
Mei
M
Huang
Wei
W
Li
Zeqing
Z
Cheng
Xiangrong
X
Ji
Junfeng
J
Xue
Fei
F
Wang
Qiuping
Q
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003187:Compliance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010614:Pharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed