Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) as a diagnostic tool that can be used (alone or in conjunction with another diagnostic tool) in surgical treatment planning of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients and to determine level of collapse in the upper airway.
Methods: Using a case-control study, 40 patients subjected to upper airway surgery were selected in this study. All patients were subjected to physical, clinical evaluation and Drug Induced Sleep Endoscopy (DISE), for 20 patients surgery was done without CBCT scanning, while 20 patients surgery was done after CBCT scanning and assessing radiographic findings including virtual endoscopy with clinical findings. Both groups were clinically evaluated after six months of the surgery to determine surgical treatment planning success. For all tests P≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Group II was more superior over group I in postoperative clinical parameters such as patient satisfaction and AHI reduction.
Conclusion: CBCT is a low dose highly efficient diagnostic tool that is very important in proper evaluation of OSA. Virtual endoscopy is a noninvasive impressive tool for 3D soft tissue simulation.