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Updated: Sep 14, 2025
Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy DISE with Target Controlled Infusion TCI and Bispectral Analysis in Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Published on: December 6, 2016
Ascending and Descending Pharyngeal Opening Pressures During Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy: Mechanistic Insights for
Linda C Magaña1,2, Tice Harkins1, Yash Dixit1
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Objective:
To assess whether differences exist between ascending pharyngeal opening pressure (PhOPA) and descending pharyngeal opening pressure (PhOPD) obtained from positive airway pressure (PAP) titrations during drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) and to identify the associations between the physiologic and anatomic constituents of these differences.
Study Design:
Cross-sectional study of a prospective, single-site sleep surgery cohort.
Setting:
Quaternary care center.
Methods:
Consecutive patients with obstructive sleep apnea undergoing DISE with PAP were enrolled. PAP was raised in a stepwise manner until inspiratory airflow limitation was abolished (PhOPA), then decreased until just before airflow limitation reappeared (PhOPD). Negative effort dependence (NED) was calculated in flow-limited breaths as the percentage difference in nasal airflow from peak to plateau. Anatomic measures included both computed tomography (CT) and VOTE scores. PhOPA and PhOPD were compared using paired t tests. Associations with the percent difference in PhOP values (PhOPA-D) were evaluated using Pearson's correlations or analysis of variance for continuous or categorical measures, respectively.
Results:
In a cohort of 43 patients, PhOPA was greater than PhOPD (7.41 ± 2.55 vs 6.02 ± 1.77 cm H2O, P < .01). For patients with nonequivalent PhOPA-D, the mean PhOPA-D was 1.88 ± 1.33 cm H2O, or a percent difference of 21.95% ± 10.37%. In both unadjusted and adjusted analyses, higher PhOPA-D was associated with higher NED (r = 0.46, P = .003) and with more negative pharyngeal pressure (r = -0.48, P = .002). Patients with a nonequivalent PhOPA-D were more likely to have complete lateral wall obstruction on VOTE (P = .03). The present study showed no statistically significant associations with CT findings.
Conclusion:
The correlation of PhOPA-D with negative pharyngeal pressure supports the ability of DISE to partition passive versus active contributions to upper airway obstruction. Higher PhOPA-D highlights the possible extrapharyngeal drivers of upper airway obstruction, particularly ventilatory drive and respiratory effort. DISE-PAP with ascending and descending titrations can potentially be used in conjunction with anatomic findings on CT and VOTE scoring to offer insights into patient selection for sleep surgery.
Level Of Evidence:
Level 2.
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