Sites and sizes of fat deposits around the pharynx in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea and weight matched controls.

It has been suggested that deposition of fat in the soft tissues surrounding the upper airway may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in obese subjects. We have used magnetic resonance imaging to determine the site(s) and size(s) of fat deposits around the upper airway in six obese patients with OSA (116-153% of ideal body weight) and five weight-matched controls without OSA (107-152% of ideal body weight). In all subjects, large deposits of fat were present postero-lateral to the oropharyngeal airspace at the level of the soft palate. Significantly more fat was present in these regions in the patients with OSA (p = 0.03). Fat deposits in the soft palate were observed in 4 of the 6 patients with OSA but none of the controls. Fatty streaks were observed in the tongue in 2 of the 5 controls and 3 of the 6 patients with OSA. Fat deposits were observed anterior to the laryngopharyngeal airspace, in submental regions, in all obese subjects. This study shows that more fat is present in those areas surrounding the collapsable segment of the pharynx in patients with OSA, compared to equally obese control subjects without OSA.

• Publication year

  1989

• Venue

  European Respiratory Journal

• Publication date

  1989-07-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1183/09031936.93.02070613PMID 2776867
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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