Dimensional changes of airways observed in lateral radiographs of patients undergoing orthognathic surgery at the carlos Ardila Lulle clinic from 2010 to 2016
- Hospice & Palliative Medicine International Journal
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Mantilla Pico María Alejandra, Ruiz Solano Jazmín Rubiela, Fallad Perez Geimy
Abstract
Introduction: Skeletal alterations are variations that occur in the jaws and occlusion. In
addition, these can generate problems in the pharyngeal airways. For this reason, different
procedures arise to correct bony problems, such as orthognathic surgery. However, these
surgical techniques do not fully prove significant changes in the upper and lower pharyngeal
airways.
Objectives: To determine the anteroposterior dimensional changes of the upper and
lower pharyngeal airways in lateral skull radiographs of patients undergoing orthognathic
surgery. Methodology: A descriptive observational study was carried out. Cross-sectional.
The sample included 24 lateral cephalic radiographs of patients between 18 and 60 years
of age who underwent orthognathic surgery. Proportions were calculated for qualitative
variables and measures of central tendency and dispersion for quantitative variables. For
cephalometric variables before versus after; the paired Student’s t-test or the Wilcoxon
sign test was applied according to the distribution of the data, additionally the Pearson
correlation coefficient was applied to relate the dimensional changes of the pharyngeal
airways with the SNA and SNB planes. A significance level of α ≤ 0.05 was considered
for the analysis.
Results: It is important to highlight that for maxillary retrocession surgery there were
statistically significant differences before and after the surgical process (p=0.0023) since
thanks to this surgery the patients had 1.7 mm more in their upper pharyngeal space.
While the forward and also the mandibular backward surgeries allowed them to gain 1.5
(p=0.0108) and 1.8 mm (p=0.0184) in this same pharyngeal space.
Conclusion: Twenty-four lateral skull radiographs were evaluated, in which it was possible
to determine changes in the amplitude of the upper and lower pharyngeal airways, which
could have been produced by the set of surgical procedures to which each of the patients
underwent
Keywords
orthognathic surgery, pharyngeal airway, skeletal diagnosis
