Did you know?

Bulldogs are the only other mammal to snore. They are a type of brachycephalic dog meaning they have been bred to have a short head. Their palate and uvula is often too long for their mouth and they may have to have it trimmed surgically to stop them from strangling in their sleep.
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Home Pillar Implant Research Patient selection for the Pillar Implants
Patient selection for the Pillar Implants Print E-mail

Patient Selection and Efficacy of Pillar Implant Technique for Treatment of Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea/Hypopnea Syndrome.

Otolarynology-Head and Neck Surgery (2006)134,187-196.
The study was undertaken to determine if the  Pillar Implant System, either on its own or in combination with other procedures, can treat sleep apnea.
What is my take on this study?
This is another study which shows the success rate of the Pillar Implant System, when used alone, to treat significant sleep apnea is not great if your goal is completely stopping snoring and sleep apnea.  The Pillar Implants do much better when used to treat primary snoring.  There is likely a role for the Pillar System to be used in combinatation with another procedure to treat sleep apnea, but more studies are needed.  Patients do report subjective improvement which may indicate that the vibration from snoring is contributing to the poor sleep quality.
Summary
This was a retrospective study on 125 patients who had palatal implants.  This means that they looked at charts after the procedures were done to try to decide on the best candidates for the pillar procedure.  There were 4 groups of patients.  The first group had 29 patients who had only the pillar implants.  The other 96 patients had some other type of surgery done as well.  This was either in the nose surgery, throat surgery, or they had already failed UPPP. 

Objective success (cure) was defined as a reduction in AHI of 50% and a final AHI of less than 20.  Subjective success (did patients feel better) considered both snoring and improved daytime energy using surveys. 
Results
The overall subjective success (snoring and energy) was 88%.  In the group who was selected to have the pillar procedure alone, 79% had subjective success for snoring while 50% were less sleepy during the day. 

The overall objective cure (using AHI, see above) was 34.4%. 

The body mass index and pre-operative AHI in this group had no impact on success.  The Friedman Tongue Position Score (FTP) did not reach significance but there was a trend towards better results with a lower score.  100% of patients with FTP 1 had subjective “success”

The best success was in patients with snoring and very mild sleep apnea whose goal was to stop snoring, patients with FTP 1 (clear trend but not statistically significant because of low numbers), and FTP 2 with moderate OSA.  Although not clearly stated, many of these patients will have had Pillar Implants as well as other procedures. 

Complications:  The pain reported by patients was 3 to 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 for the first day.  Pain was negligible after this.  3% of patients had a partial extrusion (Pillar Implant was coming out).