Palatal Implants: A New Approach for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Efficacy of the pillar implant in the treatment of snoring and mild‐to‐moderate obstructive sleep apnea: A meta‐analysis

“…AHI is an objective measurement and so might be less influenced by a placebo effect, but a placebo group is also required to get a clear conclusion. ESS was significantly improved in all seven studies 29–35. An interesting finding was that the ESS score was improved significantly even in the placebo group ( P < .01) in one placebo‐controlled study 34.…”

“…However, the AHI also increased significantly in the same placebo group after procedure ( P = .0005) 34. However, other placebo‐controlled studies and the case‐controlled studies did not show such an extraordinary result 29–33, 35. The authors did not have a clear answer for such an unexpected result 34.…”

“…The authors did not have a clear answer for such an unexpected result 34. The follow‐up periods in the studies were short; 3 months for five studies, 14.6 months for one, and 29 months for another 29–35…”

“…Once a Pillar implant is extruded, it should be removed and a new one should be implanted beside the previous one. To calculate the average extrusion rate, we included all 14 studies together, because the extrusion rate would not be different between snoring and OSA patients 14, 15, 18–22, 29–35. The extrusion rate ranged from 0% to 25%.…”

S3-Leitlinie

“…B. die Weichgaumenimplantate (Walker et al 2006), die Radiofrequenzchirurgie des Weichgaumens und des Zungengrundes, die Hyoidsuspension und die "injection snoreplasty". Die Radiofrequenzablation (RFTA) und die Weichgaumenimplantate sind verträglicher als die resektiven Eingriffe, sie haben aber bei leichter bis mittelgradiger obstruktiver Schlafapnoe nur eine geringe Evidenz (Farrar et al 2008); für die Weichgaumenimplantate ist die Wirksamkeit mit hoher Evidenz nur in einer Studie nachgewiesen .…”