Critical closing pressure of the pharyngeal airway during routine drug-induced sleep endoscopy: feasibility and protocol

Abstract

The protocol of this study was successful in concomitant measurement of Pcrit during routine clinical endoscopy. Comparison of two calculation methods for Pcrit showed that the inspiratory ventilation method is more successful in assessment of Pcrit in subjects with epiglottic collapse, associated with high negative effort dependence. Subjects with palatal complete concentric collapse during DISE had a wide Pcrit range suggesting no close correlation between Pcrit and this collapse pattern.