Measurement of the upper airway volume in patients with sleep related breathing disorders: 3D MRI study.

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In order to evaluate the stenosis of the upper airway in patients with sleep related breathing disorders (SRBD) while they were awake, we measured the upper airway volume in two groups of subjects, eight SRBD patients and seventeen normal controls without snoring, using three-dimensional (3D) MRI.<BR>There were no significant differences between the SRBD patients and normal controls in terms of the volume of the upper airway, which includes the nasopharynx, oropharynx and hypopharynx. However, for the upper oropharynx, the volume in SRBD patients was found to be significantly smaller than that in the normal controls. In addition to this, the imaging of the 3D construction obtained by MRI showed a narrower contour of the nasopharynx or oropharynx in most of the patients with SRBD as compared to the normal controls.<BR>Since 3D MRI made it possible to measure the exact volume of the pharynx as well as provide a finely contoured visualization, the diagnosis and treatment of SRBD patients is feasible.
日本口腔・咽頭科学会の論文