Morphometric Analysis of Swallowing Mechanics after Surgery for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Objectives:Apply a new method of analyzing swallowing biomechanics on postoperative obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients using parameters of the modified barium swallow (MBS) imaging.Methods:This novel biometric analysis involved two patients following uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, relocation pharyngoplasty, and base of tongue resection for OSA. Postoperative MBS indicated mild swallowing impairment in both patients. Coordinates mapping 10 anatomical landmarks were collected from every frame of the oropharyngeal swallow using ImageJ software. A canonical variate analysis was performed using MorphoJ software with data pooled by subject (S1, S2) and swallowing phase (OP = oral phase, PP = pharyngeal phase). The Mahalobonis distances (D) of the pooled means from each group were defined. Eigenvectors of shape change in these patients were compared to previously published subjects (non-surgical) to document changes in swallowing mechanics.Results:Significant differences in shape change were found for all values...