Soft Cervical Collar in Obstructive Sleep Apnea, A Pilot Study

A soft cervical collar is a simple-to-use, non-invasive, non-intrusive, cheap and comfortable external support that can be used after cervical surgery or injuries such as whiplash [1, 2]. It limits cervical and head movements such as antero-posterior flexion/extension and backward motion of the mandible [3, 4]. In obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), upper airway obstruction can be caused by anterior flexion of the head or by backward seesaw motion of the mandible and the tongue in supine position [3, 5–7]. Prior to a randomised controlled trial (RCT) using such a support to treat OSA, we assessed in a pilot study 1) night tolerance of the soft cervical collar in patients with OSA; 2) alteration of pharyngeal patency according to polygraphy data with this support in OSA; 3) trial population size for conclusive results. Footnotes This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article. Conflict of interest: Dr. BORDIER has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. LATASTE has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. ORAZIO has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. PAPIN has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. ROBERT has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. BOURENANE has nothing to disclose.