Pharyngoplasty represents one of the most widely performed surgical procedures for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the presence of palate-oropharyngeal collapse. The learning curve for pharyngoplasties is steep and success is conditional on the correct use of the sutures and the careful application of the surgical steps in a narrow surgical field. The use of synthetic models may be conveniently and safely employed for hands-on surgical practice in pharyngoplasties, especially when fresh frozen cadaveric specimens are not available. We present the "Pharyngolab", a new simulator for pharyngoplasties.
Keywords: Barbed pharyngoplasty; Pharyngoplasty; Simulator; Sleep apnea surgery; Snoring.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.