Submitted by Maria Anália Conceição (marianaliaconceicao@gmail.com) on 2016-08-11T14:15:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Publico-08.pdf: 373386 bytes, checksum: fd0305437ec235256dceaae13bd7e378 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Anália Conceição (marianaliaconceicao@gmail.com) on 2016-08-11T14:18:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Publico-08.pdf: 373386 bytes, checksum: fd0305437ec235256dceaae13bd7e378 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-11T14:18:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Publico-08.pdf: 373386 bytes, checksum: fd0305437ec235256dceaae13bd7e378 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Introduction: The nasal patency may influence respiratory pattern in sleep-disordered breathing patients. There is a small number of studies assessing acoustic rhynometry (ARM) in OSAS patients, and they only reported results in a seat position, and with patients using nasal vasoconstrictors. ARM is a non-invasive method to assess the geometry of the nasal cavity, mostly the transversal sectional area, and the nasal volume, independently of the airflow. We sought to analyze the nasal cavity and the UA morphological characteristics differences among patients with OSAS, UARS, and normal breathers. Methods: We studied 41 consecutive patients, 16 with UARS (9 male), 14 OSAS (8 male), and 11 normal breathers (7 male) matched by age (37.3 ± 10.5; 37.4 ± 8.6; 33.1 ± 9.5) and gender. UARS patients were diagnosed according to Guilleminault et al, 2006, revised criteria, with Respiratory Disturbance Index > 10, and OSAS patients with AHI > 10 in the polysomnographic recording. Patients underwent to a clinical evaluation including: UA and dental occlusion inspection, anterior rhynoscopy, and ARM. The latter was performed in a room with temperature and humidity control in a standard seat position, but also after 5 and 10 minutes of supine position in the absence of nasal vasoconstrictors. Data were analyzed by a means of 2- way ANOVA, Chi-square and Fisher exact test. Results: OSAS and UARS presented significantly more web- palate than controls (p = 0.045). Mallampati III index was only significantly more frequent in OSAS group (p = 0.04). The RNM results showed: a) significant reduction in minimal transversal sectional area 2 in a seat position in OSAS (p = 0.04), and a trend to reduction in UARS (p = 0.06) compared to controls; b) Volume 2 and total volume in supine position were lower in OSAS (p = 0.005; p = 0.01). All ARM parameters were smaller in patients and subjects in supine position after 10 minutes, but not 5 minutes, compared to a seat position (p < 0.05; all). Conclusions: This is the first study suggesting that ARM should be performed in sleepdisordered breathing patients in both, seat and 10-minute supine position. The volume and the minimal transversal sectional area of the nasal cavity of sleep-disordered breathing patients are reduced compared to normal breathers. The nasal cavity of OSAS patients may be smaller than UARS ones.