La terapia chirurgica della sindrome delle apnee ostruttive nel sonno

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is a disease characterised by episodes of upper airways obstruction during sleeping time with significant decrease (hypopnea) or absence (apnea) of oronasal air flux. In the fifth and sixth decades, 2% of women and 4% of men present OSAS. Diagnosis requires a multidisciplinar approach and the treatment can be medical, surgical or with prosthesis. ENT surgeon is supposed to select just those cases that can benefit from surgery. These are cases in which previously non-invasive therapies failed: a refuse of CPAP by the patient and multiple obstructive sites should be documented. This paper deeply describes the surgical techniques that can be used in apnoic patients. Over the last few years, though, we have noticed how high could be the failure rate in phase I surgery. Therefore, a complete information on the disease and a good selection of patients should be recommended.