Respiratory Movement of Upper Airway Tissue in Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Study Objectives: To measure real-time movement of the tongue and lateral upper airway tissues in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) subjects during wakefulness using tagged magnetic resonance imaging.

Design: Comparison of the dynamic imaging of three groups of increasing severity OSA and a control group approximately matched for age and body mass index (BMI).

Setting: Not-for-profit research institute.

Participants: 24 subjects (apnea hypopnea index [AHI] range 2-84 events/h, 6 with AHI < 5 events/h).

Methods: The upper airway was imaged awake in two planes using SPAtial Modulation of Magnetization (SPAMM). Tissue displacements were quantified with harmonic phase analysis.

Measurements And Results: All subjects had dynamic airway opening in the sagittal plane associated with inspiration. In the nasopharynx, the increase in airway cross-sectional area during inspiration correlated with minimal cross-sectional area of the airway (R = 0.900, P < 0.001). AHI correlated negatively with movement of the nasopharyngeal lateral walls (R = - 0.542, P = 0.006). Four movement patterns were observed during inspiration: "en bloc" anterior movement of the whole posterior tongue; movement of only the oropharyngeal posterior tongue; bidirectional movement; or minimal movement. Some subjects showed different inspiratory movement patterns with different breaths. A low AHI (< 5) was associated with en bloc movement (P = 0.002).

Conclusions: Inspiratory movement of the tongue varied between and within subjects, likely as a result of local and neural factors. However, in severe OSA inspiratory movement was minimal.

Citation: Brown EC; Cheng S; McKenzie DK; Butler JE; Gandevia SC; Bilston LE. Respiratory movement of upper airway tissue in obstructive sleep apnea. 2013;36(7):1069-1076.