Efficacy of soft palate ablation with plasma radio frequency on the Aged patient with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome

Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy of soft palate ablation with plasma radio frequency(RF) at low temperature on mild obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome(OSAHS).Method:18 patients with mild OSAHS were selected.The polysomnography examinations were carried out before and 8 weeks after RF operation respectively.The length of soft palate and uvula,snoring scale and Epworth sleepiness score(ESS) were also compared.The main adverse reactions were observed during and after the operation.Results:Comparison of polysomnography parameters before and 8 weeks after RF operation showed that I+Ⅱ phase sleep/ total sleep time(TST)(%) shortened significantly,Ⅲ+IVphase sleep/ TST(%) prolonged,sleep efficiency(TST/ total recording time(%)) and the lowest pulse oxygen saturation improved significantly(all P 0.05).in addition,there were significant differences in the decrease of apnea hypopnea index and the shortened rate of snoring time/TST before and after operation(all P O. 01).8 weeks after treatment,the length of soft palate and uvula shortened,snoring scale and ESS decreased significantly(P0.01).The observation of effect s of soft palate RF operation on pain,speech and swallow revealed that the influence of RAF was mild 1-3 days after operation,and an obvious further improvement could be detected 7 days after operation.Conclusions:Plasma RF ablation at low temperature is effective to mild OSAHS at least in a short term.This treatment is safe without obvious adverse reactions.However,it s long term efficacy is expected to be further observed.