Multilevel Surgery for OSA Has Increased

How have the patterns of surgical sleep procedures used to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) changed over time?

Background: The majority of OSA is undiagnosed, which has led to a greater focus on medical and surgical treatment. Traditional surgical OSA treatment focused almost exclusively on tonsil removal, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) and tracheotomy. Multilevel sleep surgery, addressing both the palate and the hypopharynx, is now often discussed as first-line surgical therapy for OSA.

Study design: Repeated cross-sectional study of discharge data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for 232,470 patients who underwent nasal, palatal, or hypopharyngeal procedures for sleep-disordered breathing or OSA from 1993 to 2010.

Setting: Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.

Pages: 1 | 2 | Single Page