Clinical usefulness of watch-PAT for assessing the surgical results of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the accuracy and clinical efficacy of a wrist-worn device that is based on peripheral arterial tonometry (watch-PAT) to evaluate the surgical results of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome subjects.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHOD: Thirty-five subjects who were diagnosed with OSA and underwent sleep surgeries such as septoplasty, tonsillectomy, or uvuloplasty to correct their airway collapse, participated in this study; the watch-PAT-derived respiratory disturbance index (RDI), apnea and hypopnea index (AHI), lowest oxygen saturation, and valid sleep time were measured after the sleep surgery.

RESULTS: The present study showed that RDI (32.8 ± 10.7 vs. 14.8 ± 7.5), AHI (30.3 ± 8.6 vs. 13.4 ± 8.2 events/h), lowest oxygen saturation (78.2% ± 8.4% vs. 90.5% ± 7.1%), and valid sleep time (329.1 ± 47.2 min and a postoperative value of 389.1 ± 50.1 min) recovered to within a normal range after surgery in 28 subjects. In addition, good agreement was found between watch-PAT-derived factors and visual analogue scales for changes in subjective symptoms, such as snoring, apnea, and daytime somnolence. Seven of the 35 subjects showed no improvement for their subjective symptoms and complained of snoring and apnea after surgery. We found that the RDI and AHI of those 7 subjects were not reduced, and the changes between pre- and postoperative values which were measured with watch-PAT were minimal. Their postoperative lowest oxygen saturation and valid sleep time were not elevated per the watch-PAT. The results support a strong correlation between the findings from watch-PAT and improved symptoms after surgical correction of an airway collapse.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides evidence that the factors measured by the watch-PAT might be reliable indicators of symptomatic changes in OSA subjects after sleep surgery and also shows that the watch-PAT is a highly sensitive portable device for estimating treatment results in OSA.