Novel approach to treating sleep apnoea sets new standard

Gold winner- Sleep Surgery, Dept. of Otolaryngology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou branch

A comprehensive intra-pharyngeal surgery to treat sleep apnoea addresses the problem facing a traditional endopharyngeal surgery, which is prone to several complications following removal of soft tissues to widen the airway.

The CGMH team has successfully reduced the chance of complications through palate surgery, total glossectomy, and minimally invasive turbinate reduction surgery. The success rate of sleep apnoea surgery performed by the CGMH team has thus increased from 41% to 80%.

The Linkou branch of the hospital has now performed more than 1,000 sleep surgeries, more than any other hospital in the world.

The team also explored its novel surgical approach in more indications such as ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, morbid obesity and sleep apnoea, with findings and results published in 200 papers and cited by international journals up to 3,654 times.

Intravenous solution and CAR-T therapy benefit patients

Gold winner- Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital

The team in Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital has been dedicated to home parenteral nutrition (HPN) for 25 years and has registered patterns in Taiwan and overseas and published 23 papers. The HPN combined with home care model developed by the hospital is being adopted by healthcare providers overseas.

Gold winner- Novartis Taiwan

Adding to the list of gold winners is Novartis Taiwan with its Kymriah, the world’s first CAR-T immunotherapy for B-cell acute lymphoblastic lymphoma (B-ALL), which has increased the overall survival rate to 55% of patients from less than 10% over the past five years. Kymriah is currently approved for use in 30 countries and is now covered by Taiwan’s health insurance from November 2023.

ICT in healthcare shines

Taiwan's ICT industry has now entered the healthcare sector, with products or solutions being introduced to the market. Winners included ASUS' VivoWatch 6, which has been approved by the Taiwanese FDA, BenQ Dialysis' Qflux dialysis machine and Compal's AblatePal RF ablation system for treating liver tumours.

Event photos