Impact of mandibular distraction osteogenesis on the oropharyngeal airway in adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea secondary to retroglossal airway obstruction.

AIM: To evaluate the impact of mandibular advancement by distraction osteogenesis on the oropharyngeal airway in adult patients with retroglossal airway obstruction using two different techniques of mandibular distraction.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: 13 adult patients with mandibular hypoplasia secondary to TMJ ankylosis with OSAS and radiographic, CT and polysomnographic evidence of OSAS were included in the study. MDO was performed (corpus distraction in 8 cases and morphometric distraction in 5 patients). Post-operatively the patients were followed up by radiographs, CT and polysomnography after 1 month and 6 months.
RESULTS: There was an increase in the linear dimension of mandible by 11.07 mm, the volume by 19.3% and a decrease in AHI from 44.8 to 13.2.
CONCLUSION: Mandibular distraction (corpus and orthomorphic-equivocal results) is an effective method of relieving the retroglossal airway obstruction in adult patients with OSAS.