| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 臨床牙醫學研究所 === 107 === Purpose: Obstructive Sleep Apnea syndrome (OSAs) is a sleep breathing disorders of upper airway collapsing during sleep. It mostly caused by the upper airway structure abnormality. According to the previously studies, volume enlargement and low elasticity of upper airway structure may correlate to the occurrence of OSAs. The medical imaging tools of evaluating upper airway included computed tomography (CT), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Cephalometric x-ray. However, their application was limited by the drawback such as radiation exposure, high cost and time consuming. Ultrasound imaging may benefit the observation of upper airway. The aim of this study was to establish a reliable submental ultrasound elastography protocol. And identified the upper airway structure characteristic of OSAs patients.
Methods: We used ultrasound as a tool to verified the reliability of clinical submental in our study. Then total sixty-nine adults, with thirty-seven healthy adults and thirty-two OSAs patients, were included for submental ultrasound elastography. The tongue height and tongue elasticity of both sagittal and coronal view were measured to estimate the upper airway characteristic of OSAs patient.
Results: Both Sagittal Tongue Height and Coronal Tongue Height shows significant increase in OSAs patient (Sagittal Tongue Height : 65.38±0.93mm VS 60.99±0.99mm, Odds ratio=1.150, p=0.0045；Coronal Tongue Height 63.70±0.98mm VS 57.72±0.96mm, Odds ratio=1.205, p=0.0005). And the Coronal Tongue Elasticity was lower compared to the healthy group (13.24±0.36 kPa VS 15.87±0.63 kPa, Odds ratio=0.701, p=0.0029). When compared within the OSAs group, Neither Tongue height or Elasticity were correlated to Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Submental ultrasound elastography could be a reliable tool for upper airway structure evaluation. The OSAs patients showed larger Tongue Height and lower Tongue Elasticity when compared to healthy group. But Tongue height and Tongue elasticity could not be the parameter for severity determination in OSAs patients.
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