Otolaryngology: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a silent nightmare. It is a rising social problem. A variety of medical and surgical solutions are available in the field but still there is no 100% cure. There are many hidden causes for the failure: Lack of proper counseling, over-weight, improper diagnosis and unaddressed areas in surgery. Hypopharyngeal collapse in OSA is the main cause for failure. Hypopharynx is the area between upper borders of epiglottis to lower border of cricoid cartilage. In failure cases, a high level of suspicion about hypopharyngeal collapse must be thought. Structures like huge tongue base, floppy epiglottis, lingual tonsil and laryngeal mass can be the reasons for the collapse. Apart from the routine workup Sleep Endoscopy is a very important tool to find out the cause. Surgeries like hyoid mobilization & suspension with mandible, midline glossectomy, epiglottopexy and vocal cord surgeries-posterior cordectomy are being performed to correct the failures. Proper pre-operative assessment along with Drug Induced Sleep Endoscopy (DISE) is very important for accurate diagnosis and better outcome. Multilevel surgical intervention tailored according to each individual is mandatory.

Biography

R Anand is the Director and Head of ENT in Dr. Anand ENT Specialty Centre, an academic training institute in Coimbatore, India. He has graduated from Madurai Medical College, Madurai, India. He has worked as a Resident under Dr. Mohan Kameswaran, a world renowned ENT Surgeon from Chennai, India. He is a Member of various associations’ like European Politzer Society of Otology, World Sleep Association, Cochlear Implant Group of India, Founder Member of Indian Academy of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery and Indian Association of Surgeons for Sleep Apnea. He has presented several papers in India and international conferences and conducts Cadaver hands on workshops in regular intervals. He has also conducted Rhinology and Otology live surgery workshops. He is the Head of Cochlear Implant Department in PSG Hospital, India.

Email: ranandent@yahoo.com