Role of cephalometry and cone beam computed tomography in the diagnostics of obstructive sleep apnea

Introduction
Obstructive sleep apnoea is a commonly diagnosed form of peripheral respiratory dysfunction. Despite the available methods for diagnostics of sleep apnoea, it needs to be pointed out that the relatively easy and cost-effective tools for diagnosing apnoea are lateral teleradiography of the head and cone beam computed tomography, which are widely performed in the orthodontic practice.

Aim
This study aims to present the basic parameters for the cephalometric analysis of lateral teleradiography of the head and the application of cone beam computed tomography, which can be performed in patients at risk or with positive medical history.

Material and methods
1990–2021 literature review was carried out using the PubMed database and the following keywords: obstructive apnoea during sleep, sleep apnoea syndrome, sleep apnoea diagnostics, cone beam computed tomography, lateral teleradiography of the head, cephalometric measurements. Studies were used that present results regarding OSA patients compared to healthy controls.

Results
The study presents specific parameters with statistically significant difference in the OSA group compared to the controls. The CBCT examination is a valuable source of information in assessing respiratory tract narrowing. However, it is merely an image of the given point in the respiratory cycle and does not show differences in body position and function. Therefore, it is recommended to standardise and create repetitive conditions for the examination.

Conclusions
The analysis of the abovementioned studies confirms a correlation between the values of parameters of cephalometric analysis and CBCT findings and OSA occurrence. Given that these examinations have their limitations, they should be used as additional means in the diagnostics of obstructive sleep apnea and they cannot be the method of choice.