Relationship of aberrant internal carotid artery with pharyngeal wall in obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common clinical condition in which the upper airway partially or completely narrows or collapses during sleep. The objective of our research was to examine the relation between the abnormal internal carotid artery (ICA) and the pharyngeal wall among individuals suffering from OSA, and to compare it to a group of control subjects.

In this retrospective study, the closest distances of the ICA to the pharyngeal walls and midlines were measured on CT images and compared between groups.

The closest distance of the ICA to the right pharyngeal wall was 3.8 ± 2.4 mm and the closest distance to the left pharyngeal wall was 4.1 ± 2.3 mm in patients with OSA, which was significantly less than the controls (respectively, 4.4 ± 1.6 mm and 14.4 ± 1.7 mm) (p < 0.001). The closest distances of the ICA to the right and left pharyngeal walls (p = 0.001) and to the right and left midline (p = 0.00002) were significantly lower in patients with moderate to severe OSA compared to mild patients according to apnea / hypopnea index (AHI). In the retroglossal bifurcation of the common carotid artery (CCA), the closest distances of the ICA to the right (p = 0.027) and left pharyngeal walls (p = 0.018) and to the right (p = 0.01) and left midline (p = 0.012) were significantly lower than the retroepiglottic bifurcation of the CCA.

We observed that the distance of the aberrant ICA to the pharyngeal wall is less in individuals with OSA than in individuals without OSA, the distance of the aberrant ICA to the pharyngeal wall decreased as the severity of AHI increased.