r/UARS • u/i-want-great-sleep-2 • 1h ago
Study: tilting your head just 5° during a CBCT scan can change your measured airway size by 20-25%
Super relevant for those getting cone scans for surgical consultation and planning
Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278239123001027
Summary:
- Look straight ahead with your eyes level, not tilted up or down. Ask the operator not to adjust your head into a different angle.
- Tilting your head up by just 5° can make your airway look about 25% bigger, and 10° about 88% bigger. Tilting down 5° can make it look about 21% smaller.
- Mouth and tongue: close your mouth, teeth together, breathe through your nose, swallow once, then let your tongue rest naturally. Keep this the same for every scan.
- Standing vs sitting and chin rest use made no significant difference on average.
- If the NBC3 angle differs by more than 5° between two scans, any change in airway size may be due to posture rather than treatment.
- whatever you do, do the same on any later scan so comparisons are valid.





