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Anesthesia Preoperative Clinic Evaluation of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Using Nasal Fiberoptic Videoendoscopy: A Pilot Study Comparison with Polysomnography. Anesth Pain Med 2018 Feb;8(1):e63546

Date

06/06/2018

Pubmed ID

29868460

Pubmed Central ID

PMC5970289

DOI

10.5812/aapm.63546

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85044727534 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   2 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Nasal fiberoptic videoendoscopy is an established technique to assess upper airway pathology in conscious and sedated patients.

OBJECTIVES: The authors conducted a prospective proof-of-concept pilot study to evaluate whether airway narrowing detected using nasal fiberoptic videoendoscopy in the anesthesia preoperative clinic was capable of defining the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in patients scheduled for elective surgery.

METHODS: After application of topical local anesthesia (4% lidocaine with phenylephrine), sixteen patients (ASA physical status 2 or 3) underwent nasal fiberoptic videoendoscopy in sitting position. The magnitudes of retropalatal and retrolingual luminal narrowing were assessed as predictors of OSA. Patients also underwent polysomnography and completed STOP-Bang questionnaires. The endoscopist's clinical impression of OSA severity based on the history and airway examination was quantified.

RESULTS: Retropalatal luminal narrowing and STOP-Bang score ≥ 4 predicted OSA severity as either "none or mild" or "moderate to severe" in 13 (81%) and 9 (56%) of 16 patients who underwent polysomnography, respectively. OSA severity was significantly (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient) associated with retropalatal airway narrowing (P = 0.0048), STOP-BANG score (P = 0.0072), and body mass index (P = 0.0091), whereas clinical impression and retrolingual pharyngeal narrowing were not (P=0.093 and P = 0.11, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: The current results suggest that nasal fiberoptic videoendoscopy quantification of retropalatal airway narrowing may be a useful tool for assessing the severity of OSA in the anesthesia preoperative clinic. The current findings document a proof-of-concept feasibility of nasal fiberoptic videoendoscopy as a screening tool for OSA in conscious patients during preoperative evaluation that may justify further prospective clinical trials of this technique.

Author List

Jain S, Kallio PJ, Less K, Novalija J, Pagel PS, Ebert TJ

Authors

Thomas J. Ebert MD, PhD Adjunct Professor in the Anesthesiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Jutta Novalija MD, PhD Professor in the Anesthesiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin