ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2023
White matter microstructure and connectivity changes after surgery in male adults with obstructive sleep apnea: recovery or reorganization?
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reduced cerebral blood flow in obstructive sleep apnea: A meta-analysis of SPECT and MRI studies.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2026Pooled it
- Tract-specific white matter changes and their cognitive correlates in obstructive sleep apnea: a cross-sectional study using 3.0 T diffusion tensor imaging.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Study objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent clinical problem significantly affecting cognitive functions. Surgical treatment is recommended for those unable to use continuous positive airway pressure. We aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of upper airway surgery on the white matter (WM) microstructure and brain connectivity in patients with OSA. Methods: Twenty-one male patients with moderate-to-severe OSA were recruited for multi-level upper airway surgery. Overnight polysomnography (PSG), neuropsychiatric tests, and brain MRI scans were acquired before and 6.1 ± 0.8 months after surgery. Nineteen male patients with untreated OSA were also included as a reference group. We calculated the longitudinal changes of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters, including fractional anisotropy (ΔFA) and mean/axial/radial diffusivity (ΔMD/AD/RD). We also assessed changes in network properties based on graph theory. Results: Surgically treated patients showed improvement in PSG parameters and verbal memory after surgery. Globally, ΔFA was significantly higher and ΔRD was lower in the surgery group than in the untreated group. Especially ΔFA of the tracts involved in the limbic system was higher after surgery. In network analysis, higher Δbetweenness and lower Δclustering coefficients were observed in the surgical group than in the untreated group. Finally, the improvement of verbal memory after surgery positively correlated with ΔFA in superior thalamic radiation ( Conclusion: Surgical treatment of OSA can alleviate alterations in WM integrity and disruptions in local networks, particularly for the tracts involved in the limbic system. These findings may further explain the cognitive improvement observed after the treatment of OSA.
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Registered trials
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