CT measurement and comparison on upper airway between normal adults and patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Objective:To investigate the significance of CT measurement on obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) through exploring reference value of upper airway of normal adults.Methods:42 normal adults and 27 patients with OSAS were enrolled in this study. The upper airway levels from the roof of nasopharynx to the inferior border of annular cartilage were sacanned by the spiral CT. Using the skills of image handling workstation, the areas, the coronary and arrowy diameter dimensions of palate, uvula, lingua, epiglottis reigions were measured. The value of every level was divided by the relative annular cartilage value so as to explore the normal reference range.Results:The reference values on the four upper airway level of each group are different and there has significant difference between male and female and no relationship with areas, body height and age. The values of 5(11.9%) cases in normal adults group and 4 cases in OSAS group are below the reference range.Conclusion:The mentioned-above referece value in each level is useful to the judgement of the upper airway structure and it also has significance to the diagnosis and the therapeutics in OSAS patients.