Abstract: Objective To investigate and study the clinical effect of plasma radiofrequency ablation (RFA) at a low temperature in treatment of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). Methods Infraturbinal, soft palate, uvula and tongue base were channeled using ENTec-CobatorTM plasma surgical instruments,which was made by the Arthrocare Company, USA in all 60 cases. Nocturnal polysomnography（PSG）and fibroptic laryngoscope examination were performed on before and after the operations. Different operations were based on different obstruction planes under local anesthesia: ① only RFA on the infraturbinal, soft palate, uvula and tongue base; ② RFA after tonsillectomy plus partial resection of the soft palate and uvula; ③ gradual RFA after tonsillectomy for the unbearable patients; ④ RFA accompanied with nasal septum deviation and polyps resection under endoscopy. Results Symptoms of all patients were alleviated or vanished: the apnea time was remarkably reduced, all patients were vigorous in the daytime, the free margin of the soft palate was elevated, the uvula was shortened, the volume of the tonsil was remarkably reduced, and the pharyngeal space was significantly expanded. No complications occurred during and after the operations. The mean AHI of OSAHS patients decreased and the mean lowest SaO2 increased after the operations (P＜0.01); in general, 18 cases were cured, 28 patients showed an excellent effect, 10 cases showed a good effect and 4 cases had no effect after 6 months, whereas 15, 25, 13, and 7 respectively after 12 months. The effect rate was 93.33%（56/60）and 88.33%（53/60）, respectively. Conclusion Plasma radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an effective method for obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and it is simple, microtraumatic, safe and accessible and can be popularized in clinical work, but its longterm effect is unclear.

Key words: Radio-frequency ablation(RFA), Sleep apneahypopnea syndrome, obstructive