Nasal surgery improves symptoms of obstructive sleep apnoea, Finds study

Jun Wu and colleagues from the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of nasal surgery in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) by comparing the improvement of subjective symptoms and objective metrics before surgery and after 6 months of surgery.

Patients with the main complaint of nasal congestion combined with habitual snoring who were hospitalized and treated were selected. Patients underwent subjective symptom tests and objective indicator monitoring both before surgery and 6 months after surgery. Comparisons between groups were performed using the independent samples t-test.

The following observations were observed-

1. Subjective scale evaluations demonstrated that nasal congestion, daytime sleepiness, snoring, nose-related symptoms, and sleep symptoms in patients with simple snoring or with obstructive sleep apnoea were improved after nasal surgery.
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2. Additionally, vitality was improved in all groups except for the patients with simple snoring and emotional consequence was improved in patients with simple snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnoea.
3. Objective evaluations indicated the apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI), the thickness of the soft palate, and the maximum cross-sectional area of the sagittal plane of the soft palate decreased after surgery in patients with mild obstructive sleep apnoea.
4. The lowest blood oxygen concentration (LSaO₂) and anteroposterior diameter of the soft palate increased after surgery in patients with mild obstructive sleep apnoea.
5. The arousal index also significantly decreased in patients with mild and moderate obstructive sleep apnoea.
6. The nasal cavity volumes (NCVs) and the nasal minimal cross-sectional areas (NMCAs) of all groups showed significant differences after surgery.

Hence, the authors concluded that nasal surgery can effectively improve nose and sleep symptoms in patients with simple snoring or with obstructive sleep apnoea. It can significantly reduce the nasal resistance and increase the ventilation volume.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjoto.2021.103158