Post-Operative Steroids After Sleep Surgery

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a multifactorial disease that negatively affects almost every system in the body. While continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can be used as an effective treatment, there are many reasons that patients cannot tolerate CPAP, including claustrophobia, rhinitis sicca, ineffectiveness, and manufacturer recalls that most recently have even been fatal. Therefore, sleep surgery continues to be an increasingly utilized treatment option for patients with OSA who cannot tolerate or obtain CPAP. However postoperatively, patients typically complain of significant pain, sometimes requiring a significant course of narcotic pain medication, odynophagia, and dysphagia. These side effects often can make patients hesitant to pursue sleep surgery and carry the risk of patients becoming dehydrated and malnourished postoperatively, which can lead to representation to the Emergency Department. Minimal research currently exists on how to improve treating pain, odynophagia, and dysphagia in this patient population. One study by Williams et al. evaluated the use of a one-time dose of intravenous or intramuscular dose of steroids versus placebo after uvulopalatopharyngoplasty but did not find a clinically significant difference between the two groups postoperatively. However, in their study, they mention that likely their intervention was too short, and that further investigation into a longer course of steroid treatment, our current intervention for this study, could potentially show clinically significant improvements. Furthermore, there have been a few randomized controlled trials showing that a course of steroids improve pain and narcotic consumption after tonsillectomy in adults. However, no research has studies the postoperative effects of steroids on other sleep surgeries, such as palatopharyngoplasty, hypoglossal nerve stimulation, genioglossus advancement, or maxillomandibular advancement. Investigators hypothesize that postoperative steroids will be superior to no steroids in terms of pain, dysphagia, and narcotic usage.

Inclusion criteria

• Adults 18 years or older
• Undergoing sleep surgery, specifically palatopharyngoplasty, tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy, uvulectomy, hypoglossal nerve stimulation, genioglossal advancement, or maxillomandibular advancement
• Ability to complete all study questions in English

Exclusion criteria

• Any self-reported allergies to corticosteroids
• Intra-operative surgical or anesthetic complication
• Pre-operative steroid use (defined as any steroid use greater than three days duration within 30 days prior to sleep surgery)
• Inability to perform study due to underlying medical condition
• Inability to answer postoperative questionnaires due to underlying medical conditions