Methods: An electronic medical data base search (Pubmed) was preformed to identify relevant papers published and indexed through April 2008. Using the following keywords: 'distraction osteogenesis' and 'mandible', a total of 490 papers were initially identified. Those papers were then further reduced in stages after reading and screening through their title and study design (159), abstract (79) and full-text (25) using exclusion and inclusion criteria. Finally, 25 relevant papers were considered for this analysis. Of these, 8 papers described the use of mandibular DO and contained both pre and post-op
polsomnography (including oxygen saturation and AHI); only these papers are included in the present meta-analysis.
Results: A total of 33 cases were identified in these 8 papers and are included in the meta analysis. Age ranged from 0.1-68 years (mean 19.37 ±22.6Y). Patients were followed post treatment for 0.7-12 months (mean11.29 ± 2.8 M). Mean pre treatment oxygen saturation was 82.65 ± 10.23% (range 53-97%), which increased post-operatively to 94.96 ± 4.6% (range 83-100%); these differences were statistically significant (p=0.0001). Likewise, mean pre-treatment AHI that was 26.93 ± 20.3 (range 9-96.2) had improved to 3.03 ± 3.1 (range 0-11) following treatment (p=0.0001).
Conclusion: This meta-analysis has confirmed that the application of DO in patients with maxillofacial anomalies is a useful tool to improve their respiratory function as evident in their polsomnography workup