Acoustic Pharyngometry Patterns of Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients

Abstract

The acoustic reflection technique is reproducible, noninvasive, and free from potential side effects. The good correlation between AI and pharyngeal area adds to the potential of acoustic pharyngometry. Careful study of the pharyngeal cross-sectional area and curve topography may give a good idea about the site of upper airway obstruction.

Quantitative Upper Airway Imaging with Anatomic Optical Coherence Tomography

“…Such measurements are of particular value in understanding the pathophysiology of OSA and in devising, applying, and determining the effectiveness of treatment modalities (1). In recent years, upper airway size and shape have been measured by a number of techniques, including CT (16)(17)(18), fluoroscopy (19,20), MRI (21)(22)(23)(24), nasoendoscopy (25)(26)(27)(28), and acoustic reflection (4,29,30). Although these studies have demonstrated important differences in pharyngeal shape and size between individuals with and without OSA, in terms of baseline anatomy (4,16,18,22,23,29,30) and dynamic behavior (17,(19)(20)(21)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28), the routine use of these technologies for study of the upper airway on repeated occasions and over prolonged periods in individuals is limited.…”

Acoustic Pharyngometry Measurement of Minimal Cross-Sectional Airway Area Is a Significant Independent Predictor of Moderate-To-Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea

“…Acoustic pharyngometry is a noninvasive method that uses sound refl ection to assess quickly (< 5 min) the crosssectional area of the upper airway as a function of distance from the oral opening. 4,5 Based on the observation that anatomical compromise predisposes to OSA, prior studies have suggested that acoustic pharyngometry may be useful to predict the presence of snoring with or without OSA in both adults [6][7][8][9][10] and children. 11 Acoustic pharyngometry has also been used to assess heritability traits, such as narrow airways, in African American populations.…”

Obstructive sleep apnea: diagnosis, risk factors, and pathophysiology

“…This has been demonstrated over recent years by a variety of imaging techniques (Shepard et al, 1991;Schwab, 1998;Faber and Grymer, 2003), such as computed tomography (CT) (Schwab et al, 1993), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Shelton et al, 1993;Schwab et al, 2003), acoustic reflection technique (Brown et al, 1987;Huang et al, 2000;Kamal, 2004), endoscopy (Morrison et al, 1993;Isono et al, 1997a;Hsu, 2002), fluoroscopy (fluoroscopic MR; Jager et al, 1998), and cephalometric X-ray measurements (deBerry-Borowiecki et al, 1988;Hoffstein et al, 1991). This has been demonstrated over recent years by a variety of imaging techniques (Shepard et al, 1991;Schwab, 1998;Faber and Grymer, 2003), such as computed tomography (CT) (Schwab et al, 1993), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Shelton et al, 1993;Schwab et al, 2003), acoustic reflection technique (Brown et al, 1987;Huang et al, 2000;Kamal, 2004), endoscopy (Morrison et al, 1993;Isono et al, 1997a;Hsu, 2002), fluoroscopy (fluoroscopic MR; Jager et al, 1998), and cephalometric X-ray measurements (deBerry-Borowiecki et al, 1988;Hoffstein et al, 1991).…”