Comparison of radiofrequency and transoral robotic surgery in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Radiofrequency tissue ablation (RFTA) and transoral robotic surgery (TORS) are the methods used in OSAS surgery. We also aimed to compare the advantages and disadvantages of RF and TORS as treatment methods applied in OSAS patients in terms of many parameters, especially apnea hypopnea index (AHI).

Materials and methods: Patients were classified by performing a detailed examination and evaluation before surgery. 20 patients treated with anterior palatoplasty and uvulectomy −/+ tonsillectomy + RFTA (17 males, 3 females) and 20 patients treated with anterior palatoplasty and uvulectomy −/+  tonsillectomy + TORS (16 males, 4 females) were included in the study. PSG was performed preoperatively and postoperatively in all patients and Epworth sleepiness questionnaire was applied. All operations were performed by the same surgeon and these surgical methods -RF and TORS- were compared in terms of many parameters.

Results: When the patients treated with RF and TORS were compared in operation time, length of hospitalization and duration of transition to oral feeding; all parameters were significantly greater in the patients treated with TORS.

Conclusions: TORS technique was found to be more successful than RF in terms of reduction of AHI value, correcting minimum arterial oxygen saturation value and decreasing Epworth Sleepiness Scale score.

Chinese abstract

简介：射频组织消融（RFTA）和经口机器人手术（TORS）是用于OSAS手术的方法。而且, 我们还根据多种参数, 特别是呼吸暂停低通气指数（AHI）, 来比较RF和TORS作为OSAS患者治疗方法的优缺点。

材料和方法：在手术前对患者进行详细的检查和评估, 从而将他们分类。该研究纳入了20例用前腭成形术和紫外线切除术-/+扁桃体切除+ RFTA治疗的患者（男17例、女3例）, 用前腭成形术和切除+/+扁桃体切除+ TORS治疗的20例患者（男16例、女4例）。所有患者术前及术后均接受了PSG, 并应用了Epworth睡意问卷。所有的手术均由同一名外科医生完成。对手术方法RF和TORS进行了许多参数方面比较。

结果：对用RF和TORS治疗的患者进行了手术时间、住院时间和转换为经口进食所需时间等方面的比较, 发现用TORS治疗的患者的所有参数显然更高。

结论：TORS技术在降低AHI值、纠正最小动脉血氧饱和度值、降低Epworth睡意评分方面优于RF。

Keywords:

• Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
• radiofrequency tissue sblation
• transoral robotic surgery
• apnea hypopnea index

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.