Genioglossal advancement--a simple surgical procedure for sleep apnea. Case report and literature review.

Although the use of a standard nasal continuous positive airway pressure device to combat obstructive sleep apnea is often effective, it is neither curative nor universally well tolerated. Thus, surgical intervention is often inevitable. We describe a simple, conservative surgical procedure performed on a patient with profound mandibular retrognathia (dolichofacial type), accompanied by sleep apnea. The procedure resulted in a significant pharyngeal airway enlargement of 53 and 87% at the mandible angle and hyoid bone levels, respectively, increased oxygen saturation, reduction in the respiratory disturbance index by 50%, and improved sleep quality. We present a procedure for patients whose sleep apnea is due to extensive mandibular retrognathism with concomitant retrolingual narrowing and collapse. Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel