Importance: Modified uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (mUPPP) is a surgical treatment for selected adults with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Tonsillectomy (TE) alone is a less extensive alternative treatment.
Objective: To investigate whether mUPPP is more effective than TE alone in treating adult patients with tonsillar hypertrophy and moderate to severe OSA.
Design, setting, and participants: This blinded randomized clinical trial compared the effectiveness of mUPPP with TE alone before surgery and 6 months postsurgery in adults with tonsillar hypertrophy (sizes 2, 3, or 4 according to the Friedman staging) and moderate to severe OSA in a university hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Participants underwent surgery from January 2016 to February 2021; the last postsurgery follow-up was completed in September 2021. Data analyses were performed from January to September 2022.
Interventions: mUPPP vs TE alone.
Main outcomes and measures: Between-group differences on the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS).
Results: The study cohort comprised 93 patients (mean [SD] age, 41.6 [9.4] years; 80 [86%] men; race/ethnicity were not considered) with a mean (SD) body mass index of 29.0 (2.8), calculated as weight in kg divided by height in m2. Of these, 90 participants (97%) completed the protocol (mUPPP, n = 45; TE, n = 45). The mean (SD) AHI score (number of events per hour [events/h]) for the mUPPP group decreased by 43%, from 51.0 (22.6) to 28.0 (20.0) events/h; and for the TE group, 56%, from 56.9 (25.1) to 24.7 (22.6) events/h. The mean between-group difference in AHI score was 9.2 events/h (95% CI, 0.5 to 17.9), with a small effect size (Cohen d = 0.44) in favor of TE. For ESS scores, the between-group difference was also small, only 1.1 (95% CI, -1.3 to 3.4; Cohen d = 0.21). Neither difference was considered to be clinically relevant.
Conclusions and relevance: This randomized clinical trial demonstrated that mUPPP was not more effective than TE alone in treating patients with tonsillar hypertrophy and moderate to severe OSA. However, there was a small difference in favor of TE. Because TE alone is less extensive, it could be considered as an alternative to mUPPP in this selected group of patients with OSA.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02523248.