Effectiveness of the analysis of craniofacial morphology and pharyngeal airway morphology in the treatment of children with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome

Objective

In general, no consensus has been reached regarding the diagnostic criteria for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) in children and the criteria for selecting treatment are inconsistent. Therefore, the craniofacial and pharyngeal airway morphology of OSAS in children who had undergone drug therapy (non-op group) and OSAS in children who had undergone both drug therapy and surgical therapy (adenotonsillectomy) (op group) were compared. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of craniofacial morphology and pharyngeal airway morphology analysis in the treatment of children with OSAS.

Methods

The craniofacial and pharyngeal airway morphology of the control group, the non-op group and the op group were compared to examine the differences of each group. The comparison used Mann–Whitney''s U test.

Results

A comparison between the non-op and the op groups showed significant differences in the facial axis, mandibular plane angle, ramus plane to the SN (porion and orbit) point, point Pog (pogonion) to the McNamara line, anteroposterior dysplasia indicator (APDI), D-AD1 [the distance between the posterior nasal spine (PNS) point and the nearest adenoid tissue, measured along the PNS–Ba (basion) point plane], D-AD2 (the distance between the PNS point and the nearest adenoid tissue, measured along a line from the PNS point perpendicular to the S (sella turcica)–Ba point plane), upper pharynx and soft palatal length. The op group showed significantly lower values of APDI than the non-op group, indicating that the op group showed a significant occlusion of class II, and that the mandibular bone was positioned posteriorly relative to the maxillary bone.

Conclusions

The op group showed a significant posterior position and backward rotation of the mandibular bone, stenosis of the nasopharyngeal airway and an elongated soft palate compared with the non-op group, and it was speculated that there was a high probability of the necessity of surgical therapy (adenotonsillectomy) when a morphological factor played a major role as a cause of obstructive sleep apnoea. We recommend craniofacial morphology analysis and pharyngeal airway morphology analysis in the diagnosis and treatment planning of OSAS children.