RESUMO
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and laryngomalacia are two different entities. Occasionally, they may have a common etiology: an elongated, flaccid, and lax epiglottis that is displaced posteriorly during inspiration causing airway obstruction. Twenty-seven adults with a diagnosis of airway obstruction or OSA of various degrees, and 12 infants with severe stridor associated with frequent apneas due to laryngomalacia, who on fiberoptic examination were found to have a posteriorly displaced epiglottis, underwent partial epiglottidectomy with a CO2 laser. Their postoperative recovery was uneventful. Polysomnographic studies performed after operation in the adult patients demonstrated statistically significant improvement in 85% of the patients. In all the cases of laryngomalacia, stridor ceased permanently after surgery, together with complete cessation of the apneic episodes. This study demonstrates that similar pathophysiological mechanisms may be involved in both laryngomalacia and in OSA. Effective and relatively safe treatment can be achieved by partial resection of the epiglottis with a microlaryngoscopic CO2 laser.
Assuntos
Obstrução das Vias Respiratórias/cirurgia , Epiglote/anormalidades , Epiglote/cirurgia , Terapia a Laser/métodos , Sons Respiratórios , Síndromes da Apneia do Sono/cirurgia , Adulto , Idoso , Obstrução das Vias Respiratórias/diagnóstico , Obstrução das Vias Respiratórias/etiologia , Obstrução das Vias Respiratórias/fisiopatologia , Feminino , Seguimentos , Humanos , Recém-Nascido , Laringoscopia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Polissonografia , Sons Respiratórios/diagnóstico , Sons Respiratórios/fisiopatologia , Síndromes da Apneia do Sono/diagnóstico , Síndromes da Apneia do Sono/etiologia , Síndromes da Apneia do Sono/fisiopatologia , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is caused by obstruction or narrowing of the airway at various levels. The repair of one site only will not alleviate the syndrome if there are obstructions in other sites. Epiglottis prolapse during inspiration is an unusual cause of airway obstruction and a rare cause of OSA. Twelve cases of OSAS due to an abnormal epiglottis are presented. We present our approach to the diagnosis using fibre-optic examination of the hypopharynx, and our treatment using endoscopic carbon dioxide laser partial epiglottidectomy. We found in our series that in 11.5 per cent of patients who failed the uvulopalatopharyngoplasty procedure, the reason was a narrow airway at the hypopharyngeal level caused by an abnormal epiglottis. It is our suggestion that in these cases a laser partial epiglottidectomy should be performed. The results of this study show that partial epiglottidectomy can increase the cure rate of patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome by 10-15 per cent.
