Nasopharyngeal Morphometry in Adults with Cleft Lip/Palate and Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Analysis by Computed Tomography and ThreeDimensional Reconstruction

Objective: The aim of this article is to perform nasopharyngeal airway (NPA) morphometry of adults with cleft lip/ palate (CL/P); verify correlation with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity; and compare !ndings with CL/P without OSA (N-OSA) and OSA without cleft (N-CL/P). Methods: Patients were divided into 3 groups: (G1) CL/P OSA; (G2) CL/P N-OSA; and (G3) N-CL/P OSA. Cone beam computed tomography images were used for three-dimensional reconstruction and morphometric analysis. Results: Volume NPA was larger in G1 than in G3. Length, width, inferior depth, areas, and inferior perimeter of NPA in G1 did not differ from G2 or G3. The superior perimeter of G1 NPA differed significantly from G3. Severity of OSA did not differ between G1 and G3. Morphological variables and severity of OSA did not present a statistically significant correlation. Conclusions: Cleft lip/palate obstructive sleep apnea patients presented larger nasopharyngeal areas than N-CL/P OSA. Findings suggest that OSA physiopathology in CLP patients has different pathways than in OSA patients without a cleft.