Palatal Procedures for Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty was the first surgical procedure described, other than tracheostomy, for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in 1981. It was recognized then that there were responders who were cured of OSA with the procedure and others that were not. It took many years for a staging system to be described that categorized patients based on Mallampati score, tonsil size, and body mass index to better predict success rates. It was recognized that individuals with retro-palatal obstruction as the cause of the airway obstruction responded well but that the morbidity associated with the inpatient procedure was often problematic.