Diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea syndrome (snoring)

  【Diagnostic method】 Polysomnography (PSG) monitoring is the most authoritative method. Every patient should have at least 1 PSG test before and after treatment.  Non-surgical treatment 1. Chinese herbal medicine treatment: We apply Chinese herbal medicine to treat this disease, which has a relatively good therapeutic effect and is not a good method for patients who are not willing to have surgical treatment.  2. Oxygen absorption as well as western medicine treatment. Such as nerve respiratory stimulant Angioprogesterone, etc., can be used as a short period of adjuvant therapy.  3. Transnasal continuous positive airway pressure breathing. This device is like an air dilator for the upper airway, which prevents passive collapse of soft tissues during inspiration and stimulates the mechanoreceptors of the chin and tongue muscles to increase airway tone. It treats the symptoms but not the root cause and can be used as a therapy on its own, but it is generally difficult for patients to adhere to it for a long time.  4. Various orthoses. Wearing special orthoses during sleep can elevate the soft palate, tug the tongue forward actively or passively, as well as move the jaw forward to achieve the purpose of expanding the oropharynx and hypopharynx and improving breathing, which is the main means of treating snoring or one of the important auxiliary means of non-surgical treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, but also treats the symptoms but not the root cause, and is ineffective for patients with severe disease.  Surgical treatment The choice of surgical method depends on the site of airway obstruction, the severity, the presence of morbid obesity and the general condition. The commonly used surgical methods are as follows.  1. Tonsil and adenoidectomy. This type of surgery is only used for pediatric patients with tonsils and adenoids hyperplasia before puberty. It is usually effective for a short period of time after surgery, and can still recur with youthful development and the development of the tongue and soft palate muscles.  2. Nasal surgery. For nasal airway obstruction caused by nasal septum curvature, nasal polyp or turbinate hypertrophy, septoplasty and removal of nasal polyp or turbinate are feasible to reduce symptoms.  3. Tongue-plasty. If the tongue is enlarged by hypertrophy, megalingualism, receding tongue root or enlarged tongue tonsils, linguoplasty is feasible.  4. uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP). This procedure is to remove the posterior edge of the soft palate and the loose mucosa of the lateral pharyngeal wall of the palatal lobe, and to pull the mucosa of the lateral pharyngeal wall forward and suture it tightly in order to relieve the airway obstruction at the level of the soft palate and oropharynx, but it cannot relieve the airway obstruction in the hypopharynx, so the indications must be selected.  5. Tracheostomy. Tracheostomy is a permanent tracheotomy, and was the only effective treatment in the 1970s. However, tracheostomy has a series of problems: lifelong cumbersome care, infection, loss of speech, reduced quality of life, difficulty in work ability and social interaction, etc., and is now rarely used.  6. Orthognathic surgery. (1) Mandibular anterior migration: this type of surgery can relieve obstructive sleep apnea syndrome caused by mandibular dysplasia and mandibular recession. As the mandible moves forward, the chin-lingual muscle and chin-lingual muscle also move forward accordingly, tugging the tongue root forward, thus expanding the pharyngeal airway. Anterior mandibular migration is usually performed by bilateral sagittal splitting of the mandibular branch.  (2) Anterior chin migration: This type of surgery is suitable for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome without obvious chin retraction. The operation is to preserve the lower edge of the mandible, and the osteotomy at the chin is pulled forward like a “drawer” together with the chin tongue muscle. The osteotomy is rotated 90° and fixed. (3) Anterior chin migration, subglottis muscle group cut off suspension: this type of surgery is in addition to the above-mentioned anterior chin migration, at the same time cut off all subglottis muscle group attachment on the body of the hyoid bone and the large angle of the hyoid bone, so that the hyoid bone also forward, upward displacement, and then suspended on the mandible with autologous broad fascia. This type of surgery is of great benefit in expanding the oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cavities, while not changing the relationship and not requiring intermaxillary fixation, and can be performed as a separate surgery or as an adjunct to other surgeries. (4) Bimaxillary anterior migration, chin anterior migration and hyoid anterior migration: This type of surgery includes standard maxillary LeFortI type osteotomy and mandibular branch sagittal splitting osteotomy to move the maxilla and mandible forward, and simultaneous chin osteotomy anterior migration, hyoid muscle group cutting and suspension. This procedure not only allows the maxilla and mandible to be moved forward sufficiently to improve the airway, but also improves the shape and relationship of the face. Since the surgery is so extensive, it is necessary to strictly control the indications for surgery, especially to identify the central sleep apnea syndrome and the mixed sleep apnea syndrome, because these two syndromes cannot be cured by surgery alone. The risk of surgery is very high in patients of advanced age, with severe obesity, and with systemic organ dysfunction, so great care should be taken.