0616 Effects of Oropharyngeal Rehabilitation After Transoral Robotic Surgery in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Introduction To demonstrate the effects of postoperative oropharyngeal rehabilitation on inflammatory mediators and antioxidant capacity in adult obstructive sleep apnea patients. Methods Obstructive sleep apnea patients were recruited and divided into conservative treatment group (n = 17), surgery group (n = 23), or surgery combined with oropharyngeal rehabilitation group (n = 19) by their willingness. Polysomnography data and the concentration of inflammatory mediators and antioxidant capacity were determined at baseline, after 6 weeks and 18 weeks of treatment. Results The data of fifty-nine patients was analyzed. Post-treatment percent change of apnea–hypopnea index in rapid eye movement sleep was positively correlated with that of interleukin-6 (0.641, 95%CI 0.598 to 0.685; P<.001). Compared with the patients in control group, those in surgery combined with oropharyngeal rehabilitation group had significantly reduced post-treatment percent change of interleukin-6 (-77.273, 95%CI -144.580 to -9.966; P=.216). In addition, the concentration of interleukin-6 (-3.423, 95%CI -6.638 to -0.207; P=.037) and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (-20.517, 95%CI -40.584 to -0.450; P=.045) exhibited significantly decreased in the surgery combined with oropharyngeal rehabilitation group. The level of total antioxidant capacity exhibited significantly improved in the surgery combined with oropharyngeal rehabilitation group as compared to the surgery–only group (0.034, 95%CI 0.005 to 0.063; P=.020). Conclusion The presented results demonstrate postoperative oropharyngeal rehabilitation could decreased the serum level of inflammatory mediators and increased antioxidant capacity. Results from this study could potentially be targeted by combination of different treatments. Support (if any) This work was supported by National Cheng Kung University Hospital (grant numbers NCKUH 10802018, NCKUH-10902002, and NCKUH-11002046).