Vol.95 No.11 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 95 No. 11 November 2002
Surgical Evaluation in Sleep Disordered Breathing
Patients with Coblation Technology
Takahide Kato, Meiho Nakayama, Kazuhiko Sugamura, Kei Sato,
Naomi Matsumoto, Tatsuyuki Banno, Men-Dar Wu and Shigeru Inafuku
(Aichi Medical University)
Recently Coblation Technology has been used to enlarge the pharyngeal space in sleep disordered breathing patients. However, the indications are unclear. In this study, we evaluated Coblation Technology with the epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), visual analogue scale (VAS) for snoring, and apnea hypopnea index (AHI) in 17 sleep-disordered breathing patients. ESS (89％) and VAS (100％) were improved in most cases after surgeries. Of the 17 patients with AHI, 88％ had a reduced AHI of more than 50％ after Coblation Technology. All of the patients with an AHI under 40 improved remarkably after treatment; however, several patients with an AHI over 40 did not improve as much. Coblation Technology is an effective treatment for sleepiness and snoring in sleep-disordered breathing patients, however, the physician must be careful using it for patients with an AHI above 40.
Key words : sleep disordered breathing, Coblation, snoring, AHI, surgery