Outcomes of Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy–Directed Surgery for Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Abstract

Objectives

To determine the effectiveness of pediatric drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE)–directed surgery for children with infant obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or OSA after adenotonsillectomy.

Study Design

Case series with chart review.

Setting

Tertiary care pediatric hospital.

Subjects and Methods

We included 56 children undergoing DISE from October 2013 to September 2015 who underwent subsequent surgery to address OSA. The primary outcome was successful response to DISE-directed surgery based on the postoperative obstructive Apnea-Hypopnea Index (oAHI). Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks tests were used to compare polysomnography variables before and after surgery, and regression was used to model response to surgery.

Results

We evaluated 56 patients with a mean age of 5.9 ± 5.5 years (range, 0.1-17.4) and mean body mass index of 21.2 ± 7.9 kg/m² (percentile, 77 ± 30). The most commonly performed surgical procedures were adenoidectomy (48%, n = 27), supraglottoplasty (38%, n = 21), tonsillectomy (27%, n = 15), lingual tonsillectomy (13%, n = 7), nasal surgery (11%, n = 6), pharyngoplasty (7%, n = 4), and partial midline glossectomy (7%, n = 4). Mean oAHI improved from 14.9 ± 13.5 to 10.3 ± 16.2 events/hour, with 54% (30 of 56) of children with oAHI <5 and 16.1% (9 of 56) with oAHI <1. There was a significant improvement in oAHI (P = .001) and saturation nadir (P < .001) but not in time with end tidal carbon dioxide >50 mm Hg (P = .14). Multivariable modeling, controlling for age, race, body mass index, sex, and baseline polysomnography variables, revealed that white race predicted success of DISE-directed surgery.

Conclusion

Fifty-four percent of children with infant OSA or persistent OSA after adenotonsillectomy had oAHI <5 events per hour after DISE-directed surgery. Only white race was predictive of oAHI <5 events per hour.