Uvulopalatal flap

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is now seen as one end of a spectrum of sleep-related breathing disorders. It is a common event, occurring to a signifi cant degree (more than fi ve events per hour of sleep) in 4-9% of the population [16]. Severe disease (more than 50 events per hour) is associated with excess mortality [11] and patients present with complaints related to excessive daytime sleepiness, disturbed sleep, morning headache, impotence, and heavy snoring. In addition, OSA contributes to defi cits in a number of cognitive processes, including intellectual abilities, executive functions, memory, and learning [5]. In a study by He et al. [2], the cumulative survival aft er 5 years in treated and untreated patients with an apnea index greater than 20 showed that cumulative survival was 100% for the continued positive airway pressure (CPAP) treated group versus about 75% for the untreated group. CPAP was demonstrated as effective in suppressing OSA, although long-term compliance remains a major problem. Many studies [3, 13, 14] report that patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea use their CPAP for only a mean of 4.7 h/night and for a mean 68% of their total sleep time. However, full-time use of CPAP is necessary to control the symptoms of OSA. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.