Abstract
Objective: This study describes inferolateral pharyngoplasty (ILP) and its effectiveness as a surgical technique to enlarge pharyngeal air space inferolaterally, which complements submucosal uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (smUPPP) in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Method: Fifty-two patients underwent complete tonsillectomy, including lingual portions of palatine tonsils during smUPPP. Reconstruction included double layer closure, muscle, and mucosa emphasizing inferolateral portions of smUPPP. Pre- and postoperative Müller maneuver and respiratory disturbance index (RDI) were analyzed. Results: The study group consisted of 47 men (90.38%) and 5 women (9.61%). The mean age was 46.6 ± 9.5 years. The pharyngeal collapse varied between 30% and 100% preoperatively. The pharyngeal collapse decreased to values between 20% and 50% postoperatively. Mean RDI levels decreased from 33.3 ± 22.9 to 23.7 ± 22.8 ( P = .027) following surgeries in OSA patients. Conclusion: ILP is a complementary procedure to smUPPP that might increase the effectiveness of the procedure. This effect might originate from double layer closure in particular emphasis on inferolateral portions. We propose that smUPPP in conjunction with ILP is an effective procedure to ameloriate OSA condition.
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