Postoperative Pain and Wound Healing After Coblation-Assisted Barbed Anterior Pharyngoplasty (CABAPh): An Observational Study

Despite the numerous progresses in the palatal surgery, one of the critical aspect of snoring and OSA surgery is the postoperative pain. Over the last decades several surgical palatal procedures have been proposed. Our aim was to evaluate the tolerability of the coblation-assisted barbed anterior pharyngoplasty (CABAPh) in terms of postoperative pain and wound healing, compared with bipolar assisted barbed anterior pharyngoplasty (BAPh). An observational study on 20 patients with simple snoring was conducted. The outcomes measured to assessing pain were a 10 cm visual analog scale (VAS) and the dose of paracetamol + codeine administrated postoperatively. The wound healing was evaluated using a 3-point scale. The other parameters indicative of both pain and surgical repair were food intake and weight loss postoperatively. The mean overall pain (VAS scale) was significantly less in the CABAPh group (M 3.7; CI 3.34–4.06) compared with the BAPh (M 4.73; CI 4.28–5.19) with a P = 0.003. The mean wound healing after 4 weeks was significantly less in CABAPh group (M 2.7; CI 3.12–2.28) compared with the BAPh (M 2.1; CI 2.45–1.75) with a P = 0.02. There were no statistically significant difference with regard to food intake (P = 0.09) and weight loss (P = 0.94). The CABAPh was able to achieve a greater pain reduction and a faster wound healing compared with bipolar forceps.