Adipose Tissue Deposition in Sleep Apnea

Abstract

To determine whether adipose tissue is deposited in the neck adjacent to the upper airway in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), we studied 21 subjects with OSA and nine without OSA using magnetic resonance imaging with a T-1 weighted spin echo sequence and polysomnography. We observed that patients with OSA had a larger volume of adipose tissue adjacent to their upper airway than did subjects without OSA.