[A new technique of gene transposition in the surgical treatment of sleep apnea syndrome]

Abstract

Pharyngotomy appears to be insufficient for the treatment of severe sleep apnea. For patients who refuse or abandon mechanical ventilatory assistance, surgery can be used to widen the retrobasilingual space adapting it to the cephalometric profile defined by cineradiography and MRI in combination with velopharyngeal plasty. For patients with no maxillomandibular or lingual malformation, the pharyngotomy can be combined with an anterior transposition of the genial insertions of the tongue without rotation. A method different from that described by Riley and Powel is proposed. The details of the surgical procedure are exposed. The operation is indicated in snorers with sleep apnoea with an Apnea Index Superior to 30 who refuse nocturnal ventilatory assistance and who do not have a hypertrophied tongue (Surface less than 30 cm2) or maxillomandibular retroposition.