Upper-airway surgery for treating obstructive sleep apnea. Measuring and predicting success.

The effectiveness of upper-airway surgery in treating obstructive sleep apnea was examined in 37 patients. All patients received a uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. Some also received tonsillectomies, septoplasties, and turbinectomies. The success of the operations was evaluated along three dimensions: a decrease in the number of apneas per sleep hour, a reduction in maximum nocturnal oxygen desaturation, and a decrease in daytime somnolence. Over 80% of the patients improved on at least one of these factors following surgery. However, postoperative intercorrelations among these three variables were relatively low. Furthermore, preoperative indexes of apnea severity could not be used to predict the degree of postoperative improvement.