Pharyngeal lavage lymphocytosis in patients with obstructive sleep apnea: a preliminary observation

• Published in: PloS one 2011-01, Vol.6 (1), p.e16277-e16277
• Main Authors: Hauber, Hans-Peter, Rüller, Stefan, Müller, Ernst, Hansen, Eike, Zabel, Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apnea; Biology; Biopsy; Breathing; Care and treatment; Case-Control Studies; Cell Count; Demographics; Diagnosis; Endothelium; Ethics; Feasibility Studies; Humans; Hypotheses; Inflammation; Inflammation - diagnosis; Inflammation - pathology; Insomnia; Laboratories; Leukocytes (neutrophilic); Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes - pathology; Lymphocytosis; Lymphocytosis - diagnosis; Lymphocytosis - pathology; Medicine; Middle age; Mucosa; Neutrophils - pathology; Patients; Pharynx; Pharynx - pathology; Respiratory tract; Respiratory tract diseases; Sleep; Sleep apnea; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - diagnosis; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - pathology; Sleep disorders; Therapeutic Irrigation - methods
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016277

Upper airway inflammation has been previously demonstrated in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, investigation has been hampered by the necessity of invasive tissue biopsies. To evaluate the pharyngeal lavage (PHAL) as a new tool to analyze mucosal inflammation in the pharynx of patients with sleep-related disordered breathing. 36 patients with a diagnosis of OSA, 14 patients with heavy snorer syndrome (HS) or body position dependent OSA (bd-OSA), and 14 healthy volunteers underwent PHAL. Inflammatory cell counts were compared. Neutrophils were the predominant cells in PHAL in all groups (94.3% ± 0.7%, 98.5% ± 0.6%, 94.3% ± 0.7%, and 96.2% ± 1.4%). OSA patients had significantly increased numbers of lymphocytes (3.2% ± 0.4%) compared to bd-OSA/HS and controls group (0.5% ± 0.1% and 0.6% ± 0.2%, respectively; P