LAUSR

Supraglottoplasty (SGP) is the surgical treatment of choice for laryngomalacia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Several recent studies have shown that oxygen can act to stabilize ventilatory control in infants with OSA and high loop gain. However, there is very limited information on the effect of SGP on OSA in infants with laryngomalacia and evidence of high loop gain. A retrospective chart review was performed in infants with laryngomalacia and OSA at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center from January 2008 to June 2022. Only patients treated with oxygen prior to SGP were included in the analysis. The pre-surgical polysomnograms (PSGs) were classified by responsiveness to oxygen into 2 groups; oxygen responders ([R]; >50% decrease in apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) with oxygen, indirect evidence of high loop gain) and non-responders ([NR]; < 50% decrease in AHI). Data were reported as mean±SD. The comparison of AHI and obstructive AHI (OAHI) between pre-surgical and post-surgical PSGs were performed in each group using paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank test. The differences of percentage decreases in AHI and OAHI after surgery between R and NR were calculated using Wilcoxon Rank Sum test. Forty-nine infants (with 52 SGPs) met the study enrollment criteria, with 33 (67.3%) male and 16 (32.7%) female patients. There were no statistically significant differences in age or sex between oxygen responders and non-responders. AHI after SGP in both oxygen responders (50.1±59.2/hr [pre] vs 17.6±21.1/hr [post]; P< 0.0001) and oxygen non-responders (25.2±13.3/hr [pre] vs 12.4±9.4/hr [post] vs; P=0.0006] decreased significantly. Similarly, there were significant decreases in OAHI after SGP in both groups. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the percentage decreases of AHI (57.3±26.1% [R] vs 41.4±48.8%[NR]; P=0.6410) and OAHI (64.0±21.9% [R] vs 50.3±41.4% [NR]; P=0.5260) between the 2 groups. Both oxygen responders and non-responders had significant decreases in AHI and OAHI after surgery with similar magnitude of improvement. Supraglottoplasty is an effective treatment in infants with larygnomalacia and OSA, even in those with evidence of high loop gain. We speculate that non-anatomic traits such as high loop gain would only manifest in the context of significant respiratory disturbances from anatomic traits.