Olfactory function in patients with obstructive sleep apnea: a meta-analysis study.

PURPOSE: This meta-analysis study was designed to analyze the olfactory function in obstructive sleep apnea patients (OSA). METHODS: A comprehensive review of the English language literature regarding OSA patients and olfactory function/dysfunction was performed. The papers assessing olfactory dysfunction with Sniffin' Sticks test were taken into consideration. RESULTS: A total of 420 OSA patients were judged eligible for the study. The average TDI score was found to be 24.3 ± 5.6. The olfactory identification (OD), the olfactory discrimination (OD), and the olfactory threshold (OT) average values were calculated resulting 9.9 ± 2.1, 9.8 ± 1.5, and 5.3 ± 2, respectively. There were 161 healthy control subjects in this meta-analysis. The average TDI of the control group was 30.7 ± 6.0 showing a statistical difference with the group of OSA patients (p = 0.03). A linear correlation between Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) increase and TDI decrease (R2 = 0.1, p = 0.05) was detected. Finally, the average values of TDI of 151 patients classified as mild-moderate OSA and 159 patients considered as severe OSA were calculated. The difference between these two groups resulted not statistically significant (p = 0.3). CONCLUSION: The comparison between OSA patients and healthy subjects using Sniffin' Sticks test showed lower values of the various olfactory parameters. Although a linear correlation between AHI increase and olfactory dysfunction was observed, no statistical difference between mild-moderate and severe OSA patients in terms of the severity of olfactory dysfunction could be proved.

Risk Factors for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome in Children: State of the Art.

The obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) represents only part of a large group of pathologies of variable entity called respiratory sleep disorders (RSD) which include simple snoring and increased upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS). Although the etiopathogenesis of adult OSAS is well known, many aspects of this syndrome in children are still debated. Its prevalence is about 2% in children from 2 to 8 years of age, mostly related to the size of the upper airways adenoid tissue. Several risk factors linked to the development of OSAS are typical of the pediatric age. The object of this paper is to analyze the state of the art on this specific topic, discussing its implications in terms of diagnosis and management.

Aging effect on sleepiness and apneas severity in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: a meta-analysis study.

PURPOSE: Different authors have reported that aging could be associated with changes in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) related parameters (apnea/hypopnea index, SpO2, reduction of daytime sleepiness, etc.), type of sleep and pattern of collapse. Regarding OSA severity in elderly patients, it is commonly believed that the AHI score tends to increase with aging. METHODS: In this paper, we reviewed the literature regarding the studies which compared older (> 65 years old) and young (< 65 years old) OSA patients regarding the effect of aging on daytime sleepiness (ESS evaluation) and OSA severity (AHI evaluation). A meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of age on daytime sleepiness and OSAS severity was also performed to corroborate previously reported experience. RESULTS: Meta-analysis showed no statistical (p = 0.8) differences regarding AHI differences emerged from the comparison of the two groups of patients. Elderly patients (> 65 years old) showed less daytime sleepiness, showing a statistical difference in the meta-analysis of data (p = 0.004) CONCLUSION: Although a direct correlation between aging and AHI values would seem to be present, no significant differences in baseline AHI between young (< 65-years-old) and elderly (> 65-years-old) patients emerged in this meta-analysis study. The effects of OSAS on daytime sleepiness seem to be much more prominent in young or middle-aged patients than in elderly patients.

The emerging role of trans-oral robotic surgery for the detection of the primary tumour site in patients with head-neck unknown primary cancers: A meta-analysis.

The identification of the site in head neck unknown primary (HNUP) tumour is of utmost importance to help select best treatment while decreasing treatment-related morbidity and mortality. The primary purpose of this study is to demonstrate that TORS may be a valuable tool in detecting primary tumour. Studies were systematically searched in the PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and CENTRAL electronic databases. A total of 12 selected studies (349 patients) were analyzed. The primary tumour detection and positive surgical margins rates were 70.8% and 19.4%, respectively. The rate of HPV-related tumour was 71.3%. The primary tumour was mainly in base of tongue (64%). In conclusion, TORS seems to be an effective surgical approach both in terms of detection of primary tumour site and in terms of therapeutic perspective for HNUP. In particular, a subset of HPV-related tumours might benefits all advantages from this surgical modality.

The interpretation of compact polysomnography/polygraphy in sleep breathing disorders patients: a validation's study.

The Otorhinolaryngologist (ENT) frequently has to deal with OSA or suspicious OSA patients and undergone polysomnography (PSG) or portable monitoring (PM) and should be confident about the quality and consistency of the polysomnographic diagnosis. The main polysomnographic traces compressed in a unique epoch, defined as compact PSG/PM (CP), could represent an efficient tool to confirm the quality of PSG/PM Sleep Breathing Disorders diagnosis. This is a validation's study of a CP interpretation's method, analyzing the learning curve, the level of diagnostic accuracy, and the inter-operator agreement in interpreting the CP pattern between a group of ENT specialists not skilled in PSG/PM scoring, but managing SBD patients during daily practice. Seven ENT specialists have been enrolled in the study. 50 CP traces (ranging from normal to all main SBD patterns) have been showed to each participant for the interpretation and scoring process, before and after a 2-h theoretical-practical interactive lesson, focusing on the recognition of the four main oximetric patterns on CP traces (normal, phasic, prolonged, and overlap patterns). RESULTS: before and after the theoretical-practical interactive lesson, the whole diagnostic accuracy in interpreting the 50 CP has been reported improved from 0.12 to 0.80 (median 0.52) to 0.82-0.96 (median 0.92) (p = 0.006) and the inter-scorers' agreement showed a kappa value increased from of 0.18 to 0.75 (p < 0.0001). A complete clinical diagnostic evaluation is essential in OSA patients and the ENT specialist should be concerned to verify if the patient, suitable for surgical therapy, is affected really by an isolated form of OSA. The CP interpretation allows a checking of the proper nosographic SBD framework and could be significantly important for all ENT specialists not skilled in PSG/PM scoring, but managing SBD patients during daily practice. The data reported in our validation's study showed that the CP interpretation's method is easy to apply, with a rapid learning curve. The level of diagnostic accuracy is high with a high inter-scorer agreement in interpreting the CP patterns.

The importance of drug-induced sedation endoscopy (D.I.S.E.) techniques in surgical decision making: conventional versus target controlled infusion techniques-a prospective randomized controlled study and a retrospective surgical outcomes analysis.

Drug-Induced Sedation Endoscopy (DISE) consists of the direct observation of the upper airways during sedative-induced sleep, allowing the identification of the sites of pharyngeal collapse, which is the main pathological event in Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). The Authors have compared Target Controlled Infusion (TCI) sedation endoscopy (TCI-DISE) technique to conventional DISE (CDISE), performed by a manual bolus injection of sedative agent, to recreate accurately and safely snoring and apnea patterns comparable to natural sleep. The authors conducted a prospective, randomized, long-term study and a retrospective analysis of surgical outcomes. The apnea-event observation and its correlation with pharyngeal collapse patterns is the primary endpoint; secondary endpoints are defined as stability and safety of sedation plan of DISE-TCI technique. From January 2009 to January 2011, OSA patients were included in the study and randomly allocated into two groups: the bolus injection conventional DISE group and the TCI-DISE group. Third endpoint is to compare the surgical outcomes enrolling OSA patients from January 2009 to June 2015. We recorded the complete apnea-event at oropharynx and hypopharynx levels in 15/50 pts in conventional DISE group (30%) and in 99/123 pts in TCI-DISE group (81%) (p < 0.0001). Four pts needed oxygen in conventional DISE group because a severe desaturation occurred during the first bolus of propofol (1 mg/kg) (p = 0.4872 ns). We recorded instability of the sedation plan in 13 patients of conventional DISE group (65%) and 1 patient of the TCI-DISE group (5%) (p = 0.0001). In 37 TCI-DISE group surgical patients we reported a significant reduction of postoperative AHI (from 42.7 ± 20.2 to 11.4 ± 10.3) in comparison with postoperative AHI in 15 C-DISE group surgical patients (from 41.3 ± 23.4 to 20.4 ± 15.5) (p = 0.05). Our results suggest the DISE-TCI technique as first choice in performing sleep-endoscopy because of its increased accuracy, stability and safety. However, it is mandatory an accurate assessment of PSG/PM, which allows us to differentiate OSA patients in whom UA anatomical abnormalities are predominant in comparison with not-anatomical pathophysiologic factors, achieving good surgical patient's selection and outcomes as a consequence.

An experimental study about haptic feedback in robotic surgery: may visual feedback substitute tactile feedback?

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the hypothesis that the experience of the surgeon is sufficient to partially compensate for the lack of haptic feedback of the robotic system da Vinci Si HD (Intuitive (®) ). Twenty-five international surgeons belonging to different areas of surgical specialization were divided into two groups of investigation: experts and non-experts in the use of da Vinci Platform. This allocation was made on the basis of the following criteria: the number of performed procedures, the number of robotic working days and the number of true console hours. All participants underwent a specific test to assess their ability to recognize the thickness of custom-made membranes, without the availability of haptic feedback. After the performance of the surgeons, score was given according to an appropriate evaluation system (time, preciseness, force of tension and finding a metallic object). The analysis of the performances of participants provided the following results: an average score of 8.87 for the experts compared to 3.57 of non-experts with significant difference (P < 0.05). Other parameters of interest as the average time to conduct the test showed a result of 28.8 s for experts and 71.3 s of non-experts. After our results, a significant difference between the two groups in terms of performance was found. Our hypothesis that the expertise ability of the experts might partially overcome the lack of haptic feedback was confirmed. Probably visual feedback may play a role.