Clinical value of a combined monitoring procedure with treadmillexercise test and polysomnography to evaluate the therapeutic effect of UPPP surgery plus tone base radiofrequency ablation on patients with moderate degree of OSAHS

Objective To investigate the clinical value of a combined monitoring procedure with treadmill exercise tests (METs) and polysomnography (PSG) to evaluate the therapeutic effect of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) surgery plus tone base radiofrequency ablation (TBRFA) on patients with moderate degree of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) based on a study carried out in a group of cases with OSAHS. Methods Included in this study were 65 cases with OSAHS at moderate degree, treated in our Hospital from Jan, 2003 to Sep, 2006, randomly divided into 2 groups, with 33 in surgical therapy group (STG) treated by the combined operation of UPPP plus TBRFA and 32 in tongue de? ector group (TDG) treated only by tongue de? ector supporting procedure. Measurements were carried out before treatment and 6, 12 months after the therapy among them to determine such indicators as AHI, SaO2 from PSG and data of METs to analyze and compare the differences in these data within group and between different groups. Results The rates of curativeness, signif icant effectiveness, effectiveness and no effectiveness were 12.1%(4/33), 42.3%(14/33), 33.3%(11/33) and 13.3%(5/33) for cases in STG respectively, signif icantly higher than that in TDG, with very signif icant improvement in the measured data when compared with before and after the surgery within this group of surgically treated patients (P0.05). There was marked difference seen in the data of METs as measured at the 6th and 12th months respectively after the operation between the two groups (P0.05), while no signif icant differences were determined in AHI and SaO2 between these two groups following the therapy(P0.05). Conclusions The combined monitoring procedure with METs and PSG can be taken as useful measurable grouping parameters to monitor the therapeutic effects of treating procedures on cases with OSAHS at moderate degree, and the more effective surgical program to treat cases with such a degree of OSAHS should be the combined uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with tone base radiofrequency ablation.