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Correlation between nasopharyngoscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in locating the upper airway obstruction plane in male obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) patients

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Abstract

The objective of the study was to investigate the correlation and consistency between nasopharyngoscopy (NP) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in locating the obstruction planes in obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) patients with different pathogenetic conditions. Anatomical examination of the upper airway was performed in OSAHS patients [including 32 mild cases (MI), 31 moderate cases (MO), and 30 severe cases (SE)] by NP and MRI. The differences between the three groups were analyzed to compare the correlation and consistency between the two examination methods. There were statistically significant differences in the collapse degree, cross-sectional area, left–right diameter, and anteroposterior diameter of the soft palate region, retroglossal region, and post-epiglottic region, as well as in the total thickness of the posterior epiglottic lateral wall. There was a positive correlation between the collapse degree and the cross-sectional area in Group MI, while a negative correlation was found in Group MO. There was a statistically significant difference in the kappa value of the posterior epiglottic obstruction plane of Group SE between the examination methods (kappa = 0.39, p = 0.007). Nasopharyngoscopy and MRI can depict soft tissue compliance and anatomical features of the upper airway in OSAHS patients, though they lack good correlation and consistency in locating the obstruction plane.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, Jinhua Central Hospital, 351 Mingyue Street Wucheng District, Jinhua, 321000, Zhejiang, China

    Hanqing Wang, Pan Zhuge, Yuying Jiang, Kefeng Shao, Lingling Hu & Guofei Feng

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  1. Hanqing Wang
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  2. Pan Zhuge
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  3. Yuying Jiang
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  4. Kefeng Shao
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  5. Lingling Hu
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  6. Guofei Feng
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Correspondence to Pan Zhuge.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Key Projects of Jinhua Science and Technology Bureau, Zhejiang Province (No. 2014-3-004).

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All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Wang, H., Zhuge, P., Jiang, Y. et al. Correlation between nasopharyngoscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in locating the upper airway obstruction plane in male obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) patients. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 15, 269–276 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-017-0117-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-017-0117-7

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