Comparison of postoperative pain scores and dysphagia between anterior palatoplasty and uvulopalatal flap surgeries

Abstract

Background: Dysphagia and pain are most common problems after soft palate surgery in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the postoperative pain scores and presence of dysphagia in patients who underwent anterior palatoplasty (AP) or uvulopalatal flap (UPF) surgeries.

Materials and methods: In this prospective study, AP or UPF was performed on the patients with mild or moderate OSA. Daytime sleepiness of all patients was evaluated with Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). Snoring, pain and dysphagia complaint of the patients was evaluated with visual analog scale (VAS).

Results: In both AP and UPF groups, VAS snoring and ESS scores decreased significantly after operation. VAS pain and dysphagia scores were determined to be significantly higher in UPF compared with the AP.

Conclusion and significance: Since the success rates of surgical interventions to the soft palate are similar, preferring surgical approaches with a less damage to the life quality of patients after operations is more rational. In this regard, AP, which is technically quite simple with a short operation time and fewer postoperative complaints affecting life quality such as pain or dysphagia may be preferred in selected patients with OSA.

Chinese abstract

背景：在阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）患者的软腭手术后, 吞咽困难和疼痛是最常见的问题。目的：本研究的目的是比较接受前腭成形术（AP）或悬垂腭瓣（UPF）手术的患者的术后疼痛评分和吞咽困难。

材料和方法：在这项前瞻性研究中, 对轻度或中度OSA患者进行了AP或UPF手术。用Epworth嗜睡量表（ESS）评估所有患者的白天嗜睡。用视觉模拟评分法（VAS）评估患者的打鼾、疼痛和吞咽困难。

结果：在AP和UPF组中, VAS打鼾和ESS评分在术后明显下降。与AP相比, UPF中的VAS疼痛和吞咽困难评分经确定明显高得多。

结论和意义：由于对软腭的手术干预的成功率相似, 因此优选对患者的术后生活质量影响较小的手术方法是较为合理的。在这个角度上, 由于技术上较为简单, 手术时间短和影响生活质量的问题如疼痛或吞咽困难较少, AP是该研究中的OSA患者所优选的。

Keywords:

• Anterior palatoplasty
• uvulopalatal flap
• obstructive sleep apnea
• postoperative pain
• dysphagia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).