title: Long term effects of palatal implant method in adult patients with simple snoring and obstructive sleep-apnea syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the long term effect and reliability of palatal implant surgery, which is a minimally invasive technique, used in simple snoring and obstructive sleep-apnea syndrome types based on objective and subjective data.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-eight patients were included prospectively in this study. It has been possible to obtain preoperative and postoperative polysomnography results in 59 patients. The cases were followed-up for 8 months on average. Considering the apnea index and AHI values, the patients were divided into 5 groups, namely simple snoring (n=13), mild OSAS (n=21), moderate OSAS (n=17), severe OSAS (n=8), and the group on which polysomnography could not be performed, the no-polysomnography group (n=19). The cases were evaluated based on polysomnography and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and visual analog scale filled by relatives or friends of the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AHI of 46 patients diagnosed with OSAS decreased from 14.9 to 10.14 (31% decline) (p=0.279). The AHI of 13 patients with simple snoring diagnosis reduced from 3.09 to 2.02 (p=0.033). A 40% improvement was observed in VAS of all cases. Implant rejection occurred in 7 of our cases and 3 patients experienced ecchymosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is concluded that palatal implant procedure is a good option for appropriate cases, it is equivalent to other methods in terms of treatment efficacy and that is more advantageous than other techniques in that it can be applied in office settings with low morbidity, is minimally invasive and brings about higher patient compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Istanbul Medipol University, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Evcimik
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training & Research Hospital Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Ozkurt
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training & Research Hospital Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bozkurt
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training & Research Hospital Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Gursel
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training & Research Hospital Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sapci
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010160:Palate, Soft / Q000601:surgery*; D017286:Polysomnography; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D012913:Snoring / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: OSA; Obstructive sleep-apnea syndrome; Palatal implant; Snoring