title: Polysomnographic evaluation of sleep apnea in patients with unilateral or bilateral impaired nasal patency.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this work was to describe the polysomnographic evaluation of sleep apnea in patients suffering from unilateral or bilateral impaired nasal passage patency.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study covered 60 adult, including 23 women and 37 men aged 19-69, admitted to the Hospital Department. The subjects were divided into 3 groups: I - 20 patients with unilateral impaired nasal patency, II - 20 patients with bilateral impaired nasal patency, III - 20 controls with correct nasal passage patency. The methodology of the study included: a subjective examination, a questionnaire with questions about main night symptoms, e.g. dyspnea, noisy snoring, polynuria, an objective examination, blood tests (morphology, CRP, fibrinogen, IL-6, glucose level), imaging tests (RTG, CT and MRI of the head/paranasal sinuses) to determine the cause and site of respiratory obturation, physiological tests as a part of polysomnogram. The analysis described: the level of sleep disorders, causes associated with impaired nasal patency and the Mladina's classification of the nasal septum deviation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Due to the conducted polysomnogram and analysis of the additional tests, sleep apnea was diagnosed in the studied patients with impaired nasal patency: shallow breathing u 19 patients (47,5%) with unilateral impaired patency and 9 patients (22,5%) with bilateral impaired patency, whereas apnea in 21 patients (52,5%) with unilateral impaired patency and 11 patients (27,5%) with bilateral impaired patency. In both groups I and II, the impaired nasal passage patency was caused by nasal septum deviation in 18 cases (34%) and in 15 cases (28,3%), respectively. The control group did not show any sleep disorders in polysomnographic tests. Each patient from group I and II was referred for surgery to improve the nasal patency due to its cause.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The conducted tests revealed shallow breathing in 47,5% of the studied patients whereas sleep apnea in 52,5% cases. The most frequent cause of impaired nasal patency was nasal septum deviation, which was found in 82,5% of the patients, including 45% with unilateral impaired patency and 37,5% with bilateral nasal patency.
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Lodz.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Michalska
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Lodz.
authors.forename: Jurek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olszewski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015508:Nasal Obstruction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D009300:Nasal Septum / Q000473:pathology*; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000295:instrumentation; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D012913:Snoring / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult