Swallowing outcome after TORS for sleep apnea: short- and long-term evaluation

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate outcomes related to swallowing function in patients who underwent transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for sleep apnea on both short- and long-term scales. 78 patients who underwent TORS for sleep apnea between 2011 and 2014 were followed up for an average period of 20 ± 7.12 months (range 7-32 months), then swallowing outcomes determined by MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) questionnaire, gastrografin fluoroscopy imaging results, nasogastric tube dependence and subjectively by recording the patients' complaints were analyzed and reported. Minimal insignificant short-term impact on swallowing function (4.58 ± 7.03 preoperative MDADI score versus 5.18 ± 8.32 post-operative) (p = 0.56) was registered. Mean time for start of oral feeding was 1.05 ± 0.25 days (average, 1-3). In no case nasogastric tube feeding was required. Only five patients (6 %) showed significant aspiration on gastrografin fluoroscopy examination after 1 week; there was no significant correlation between the volume of tissue removed from both tongue base and epiglottis to the incidence of aspiration as shown by gastrografin fluoroscopy examination (p = 0.72). No long-term swallowing complaint was registered. Patients who underwent TORS tongue base reduction and supraglottoplasty for sleep apnea proved to have a reasonable short-term swallowing outcomes with no long-term sequelae.

Transoral robotic surgery for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: Principles and technique

“…Our group evaluated the short and long-term swallowing outcomes following TORS for OSAHS. 6 In the short-term (1 month post-operatively), there was minimal significant impact on the swallowing function ( P = 0.56) based on the MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) questionnaire ( Fig. 1 ).…”

Supraglottoplasty for laryngomalacia with obstructive sleep apnea: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Forty‐four studies were excluded for the following reasons: the number of patients undergoing polysomnography pre‐ and postsupraglottoplasty was not provided; no quantitative data for polysomnograms was provided; only adults were included; procedure(s) were performed in addition to the supraglottoplasty with no stratification of data for those who underwent isolated supraglottplasty; only preoperative data was available; some children were sedated with choral hydrate; the postoperative data was only available for a fraction of patients; portable pulse‐oximetry was used instead of formal polysomnography; or they were review articles …”

“…Forty-four studies were excluded for the following reasons: the number of patients undergoing polysomnography pre-and postsupraglottoplasty was not provided 43 ; no quantitative data for polysomnograms was provided 12,18,21,22,[24][25][26]28,29,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]41,42,[44][45][46]49,51,53,54,56,58,61,64,66 ; only adults were included 19 ; procedure(s) were performed in addition to the supraglottoplasty with no stratification of data for those who underwent isolated supraglottplasty 27,50,63 ; only preoperative data was available 55 ; some children were sedated with choral hydrate 47 ; the postoperative data was only available for a fraction of patients 30 ; portable pulse-oximetry was used instead of formal polysomnography 31 ; or they were review articles. 40,52,62 Overall, there were a total of 138 patients (ages 1 month-12.6 years) with quantitative polysomnographic data who underwent isolated supraglottoplasty.…”

Long‐term swallowing performance following transoral robotic surgery for obstructive sleep apnea

“…All of the patients in that study also had epiglottoplasty performed during surgery, and the long-term swallowing outcome was defined by patients' complaints without an objective assessment. 15 Toh et al described self-resolving difficulties in swallowing (1 of 20 patients [5%]) after TORS for BOT with supraglottic laryngoplasty. 1 Review of the literature supports that the abovementioned swallowing problems probably are not a major player after TORS for OSA (Table I).…”