Introduction Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by partial or complete recurrent upper airway obstruction during sleep. OSA brings many adverse consequences, such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, cardiac and encephalic alterations, behavioral, among others, resulting in a significant source of public health care by generating a high financial and social impact. The importance of this assessment proves to be useful, because the incidence of patients with comorbidities associated with AOS has been increasing consistently and presents significant influence in natural disease history. Objective The objective of this study is to assess major comorbidities associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and prevalence in a group of patients diagnosed clinically and polysomnographically with OSA. Methods This is a retrospective study of 100 charts from patients previously diagnosed with OSA in our service between October 2010 and January 2013. Results We evaluated 100 patients with OSA (84 men and 16 women) with a mean age of 50.05 years (range 19–75 years). The prevalence of comorbidities were hypertension (39%), obesity (34%), depression (19%), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (18%), diabetes mellitus (15%), hypercholesterolemia (10%), asthma (4%), and no comorbidities (33%). Comorbidities occurred in 56.2% patients diagnosed with mild OSA, 67.6% with moderate OSA, and 70% of patients with severe OSA. Conclusion According to the current literature data and the values obtained in our paper, we can correlate through expressive values obesity with OSA and their apnea hypopnea index (AHI) values. However, despite significant prevalence of OSA with other comorbidities, our study could not render expressive significance values able to justify their correlations.

Introduction  The Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease has a prevalence of ∼12% of the urban population in Brazil. Koufman proposed the term to designate Laryngeal Pharyngeal Reflux (LPR) symptoms, signs or tissue damage resulting from aggression of the gastrointestinal contents in the upper aerodigestive tract. Belafsky et al proposed a score that points to inflammatory laryngeal signs through videolaryngoscopic findings, the Reflux Finding Score (RFS). Moreover, in 2002, they published the Reflux Symptom Index (RSI).Objective  The objective of this study is to provide a comparison between the Reflux Finding Score and the Reflux Symptom Index in the practice of Otorhinolaryngology.Methods  Our study involved a total of 135 patients who visited the Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) clinic Núcleo de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia de Cabeça e Pescoço de São Paulo between April 2014 and May 2015 with suspected LPR. We excluded nine patients and the study group was 126 patients. All patients were ranked by their RSI and RFS scores.Results  The study group consisted of 126 patients (88 women and 38 men). Their main complaints were cough (40.4%), globus (21.4%), dysphonia (19.8%), throat clearing (15.8%), postnasal drip (3.17%), snoring (1.5%), dysphagia (1.5%), cacosmia (0.7%), and regurgitation (1.5%). The RSI ranges from 13 to 42 with a mean of 20.7 (SD = 6.67). The RFS ranged from 3 to 19 with a mean of 9.53 (SD = 2.64).Conclusion  The RSI and RFS can easily be included in ENT routines as objective parameters, with low cost and high practicality. Based on the clinical index, the specialist can evaluate the need for further tests.

Introduction  Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a multifactorial disease characterized by episodes of partial or complete collapse during sleep of different regions of the upper airway. Surgery for OSAS evolved with the introduction of different techniques, considering new surgical concept of reconstruction of the upper airway. Objective  To retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness of a new approach aimed at reducing pharyngeal collapse by combining two surgical techniques: lateral and expansion pharyngoplasty. Methods  We reviewed the medical records of 38 patients with OSAS undergoing lateral/expansion pharyngoplasty from January 2012 to December 2016. The following data were collected: patient age, gender, and pre- and postoperative body mass index (BMI), Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) scores, snoring visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, and polysomnography (PSG) results. Results  The PSG results showed a significant reduction in the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) from 22.4 ± 27.3 events/h preoperatively to 13.6 ± 17.9 events/h postoperatively ( p  = 0.009), with postoperative AHI reduction greater than 50% in 63.2% of the patients. There was also a significant reduction in the microarousal index (19.5 ± 22.6 vs 11.0 ± 13.4 events/h; p  = 0.001) and in the minimum oxygen saturation (82.6 ± 10.3 vs 86.9 ± 11.1; p  = 0.007). Conclusions  Lateral-expansion pharyngoplasty represents a new surgical strategy for the treatment of OSAS in patients with palatal collapse by combining two different techniques: lateral and expansion pharyngoplasty. The two techniques, performed as a one-stage procedure, led to improvements in excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, and PSG respiratory parameters by acting on lateral and retropalatal collapse, producing favorable results with good applicability in otolaryngology clinical practice.

INTRODUCTION: Self-assessment questionnaires, can provide subjective data about the intensity of daytime sleepiness. Among the existing questionnaires the most used one is the Epworth Sleepiness scale (ESS), which measures the propensity to fall asleep, as well as the severity of excessive sleepiness, [5] and the evaluation of the response in OSA treatment. In 1997, the Functional Outcome Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ), was developed to evaluate the functional impact of sleepiness in daily life activities [6]. In this study, we will use the Epworth sleepiness scale, and the Functional Outcome Sleep Questionnaire in its shortest version, known as FOSQ 10[7], developed in 2009 by Weaver, who in addition to drowsiness included the relationship of sleep to the quality of life. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The following variables were analyzed: age, anthropometric characteristics (weight, height, body mass index [BMI]), duration of complaints, type of complaints related to sleep (snoring, insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness), sleep apnea and hypopnea index (AHI). Inclusion criteria were patients between 18 and 80 years, without prior surgery, with complaints related to sleep disorders. Exclusion criteria were: children under 18 years, previous surgeries, previous use of CPAP. RESULTS: the significance level at 5%, where we observed moderate and significant inverse correlation between FOSQ and ESS (p < 0.001), which evidences that the higher the ESS value, the lower the FOSQ value will be CONCLUSION: This study has shown an acceptable correlation between the scores on the Epworth and FOSQ scale

This is the first reported case of Forestier Syndrome (FS) associated with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) that was proposed surgical treatment and the patient evolved with complete symptom improvement.