[Nasopharygeal size in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of upper airway 3-D size on the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). METHODS: There were 20 male and 3 female OSAS patients involved in the research. The measured apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was 45.72(24.01 episodes per hour of sleep). The items measured from magnetic resonance imageing (MRI) of upper airway size were compared to those from 12 normal controls that were sex and age matched to the OSAS patients. The Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression had done to investigate into the relationship of AHI and MRI data. RESULTS: The OSAS patients had relatively narrow nasopharynges than matched controls in the following items: the sagittal size, transverse size, section area and volume. The measured sagittal size of the nasopharynx was closely related to AHI and Lown SaO2, and the volume of nasopharynx was related to apnea index (AI). CONCLUSION: The nasopharyngeal size is closely associated with OSAS.