Development of positional obstructive sleep apnea (POSA) after upper airway surgery in OSA patients

Purpose Positional therapy (PT) has become more reliable for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients with the use of new devices. The objectives of this study were to determine the preoperative prevalence of positional OSA (POSA) in our population of surgically treated patients and the proportion of patients who developed POSA after surgery and might improve with additional positional therapy. Methods This was a retrospective study of surgically treated OSA patients from 1999 to 2017. The Cartwright definition was used to define POSA. All patients completed a sleep study before and 6 months after surgery and a complete upper airway (UA) exploration (awake ± DISE). A total of 125 patients were included. Results The global prevalence of POSA before surgery was 31.2%. In those who were cured by surgery, the preoperative prevalence of POSA was 38.3%. Having POSA was not related with surgical success outcome. For patients not cured by surgery, the proportion of POSA significantly increased from 25.64 to 53.85% after surgery. Eighteen patients of them (23.1%) achieved AHI