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Mardany et al. | Journal of Clinical and Translational Research 2024; 10(1): 93-98 97
using CBCT, and reported conflicting results. Elagib et al. [16] Total pharyngeal airway, velopharyngeal, and oropharyngeal
found that skeletal patterns affect airway volume. However, the volumes were lower in Class II patients compared to Class I and
authors reported that age and sex also significantly influence III patients with normal growth patterns. There was a significant
airway variables. The findings in the current study differ from the difference in pharyngeal space between males and females with
data by Elagib et al., who reported a significant difference between Class II malocclusion. Pharyngeal space in females with Class II
Class I, II, and III malocclusions with respect to pharyngeal space. malocclusion was larger than that in their male counterparts.
In the current study, the age of patients was from 17 to 39 years, There was no difference in airway space between female and male
while the patients’ age in the study by Elagib et al. was from 12 patients with Class 1 malocclusion. Pharyngeal space between
to 19 years. Furthermore, the race of patients in both studies was females and males showed no difference in Class III malocclusion.
different, and both sex and age significantly affect pharyngeal Acknowledgments
space.
Tseng et al. measured the differences in airway volume and None.
the smallest cross-sectional area of the pharynx among 90 patients
with three skeletal patterns using CBCT. The authors observed Funding
that the mean overall volume of the respiratory pharyngeal airway, Not applicable.
velopharynx, glossopharynx, oropharynx, and hypopharynx and
the smallest cross-sectional area of the respiratory airway in Conflict of interest
Class III patients and Class I patients were significantly larger
than in Class II patients. The study further revealed that the The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
airway volume of the patients in skeletal Class II was only two- Ethics approval and consent to participate
thirds of the airway volume of those in skeletal Class III, which is
comparable to our study. Ethical approval was obtained from the Islamic Azad University
Opdebeeck et al. [17] reported that patients with a vertical Local Research Ethics Committees (protocol identifier IR.IAU.
growth pattern have a smaller airway space than those with a DENTAL, REC;1400.041). Informed consent was obtained from
horizontal growth patterns. The difference between the findings the patients.
of Opdebeeck et al. and current study is due to the growth pattern, Consent for publication
which was normal in our study. It appears that the growth pattern
affects the dimensions of the pharyngeal space. Informed consent for releasing the patients data and/or images
Di Carlo et al. [18] evaluated the airway space of 90 young in this paper was obtained.
adult patients with Class I, II, and III malocclusions. They found
no statistical difference between airway dimension and sagittal Availability of data
malocclusion. In contrast to our study, the CBCTs were acquired Data are available from the corresponding author upon
in supine position, where the patients were lying in a bed with reasonable request.
their head fitted in a molded pillow. Moreover, Di Carlo et al.
selected the CBCT images according to the following criteria: References
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.36922/jctr.23.00110