EVALUATION OF RADIOSURGICALLY ASSISTED UVULOPALATOPLASTY VERSUS SUBMUCOSAL RADIOSURGICAL UVULOPALATOPLASTY IN.THE TREATMENT OF SNORING AND OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA

Abstract

This study was carried on twenty patients suffering fi:om snoring with or without

mild obstructive sleep apnea.

The aim was to compare two surgical procedures which are the submucosal radiofrequency uvulopalatoplasty (SRUP) and the radiosurgically assisted uvulopalatoplasty (RAUP) in the treatment of those patients.

... Careful selection of the patients was done to select only patients with obstruction

at the palatal level to increase the success rates of the procedures. These patients were subjected to a proper assessment protocol pre-operatively including through history taking, general examination, full ENT examination, flexible nasopharyngoscopic examination and sleep study.

For quantifying the subjective symptoms of the patients, we used the visual analogue scale (VAS) for snoring and the Epworth sleepiness scale. While, the objective assessment was done by the sleep studies.

The patients were randomly divided into two equal groups and each surgical procedure was done for one group. The two procedures were done under local anesthesia as an office based surgery. The number of treatment session ranged from 1 to 3 sessions per patient with 6 weeks interval between successive sessions.

The patients were followed up post-operatively on a daily basis for 4 days, then weekly for 6 weeks. During the post-operative follow-ups, the patients were evaluated for the degree of improvement of snoring using the previously mentioned scales, in addition to the occurrence of any post-operative complications.

Special emphasis was given to the degree of post-operative pam, which was evaluated during each visit using the visual analogue scale (VAS). A post-operative sleep study was done for all patients 6 weeks after the last treatment session.