Results
In these 20 studied infants, as
Table 1, the mean (SD) age was 11.6 (9.1) month-old and the mean (SD)
body weight was 6. 8 (2.4) kg. The mean (SD) operative time of this SPI
study was 5.7 (1.2) minutes.
In the collected 40 sets of study data, the measured mean (SD) PIP in
the pharynx were 4.1 (3.3), 21.9 (7.0), 42.2 (12.3) and 65.5 (18.5)
cmH2O at SPI duration of 0.0, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 seconds, respectively.
These PIP levels were all positively and significantly
(p<0.001) correlated to the durations of the SPI in second.
The corresponding levels of PIP, expansion scores, images of each SPI
mode of pharyngeal and laryngeal lesion were illustrated in the Figure 2
and Figure 3, respectively. On the same row, all four images were taken
at similar location of same infant but with different PIP levels
generated by different SPI modes. Obviously, in these changes of image
sequences, there show progressive and significant space expansion,
positive correlation, and also greater lumen dimension scores to the
associated PIP levels in all locations of the PLS. Especially, when
there existed pathologic lesions such as these presented
pharyngomalacia, uvular cyst, vallecular cyst, etc. During FB
assessment, these created lumen expansions might also help to accurate
and comprehensive evaluation of those lesions which were not visible in
the low PIP but apparently with the high PIP of long SPI duration.
All these SPI studies were successfully completed. Throughout the whole
study, there was no any study-related complication such as upper airway
bleeding, subcutaneous emphysema, pneumothorax, desaturation or
bradycardia.