Snoring Surgery - Tongue And Palate - Otolaryngology

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When it comes to cures for snoring, surgery is never pleasant. However, when normal snoring treatments fail to work and extremely heavy snoring continues to be disruptive over an extended period of time, surgery may become the only option. A number of different surgical procedures are available, the majority of which involve removing part of the uvula and soft palate.

Before performing any type of surgery, otolaryngologists and ENT specialists will first want ensure that all other possible avenues have been exhausted. They will then seek to ascertain whether or not a candidate is in fact suitable for surgery. Ideally, patients should be as close to their ideal weight as possible, be in reasonably good health, still have their tonsils and not suffer from severe hay fever or sinus problems. In order for surgery to be successful, their snoring problem must also originate in the soft palate as opposed to the tongue or the nasal passages.

The most common form of surgery used to treat snoring and sleep apnea is Uvulo-palato-pharyngo-plasty or UPPP. UPPP is a surgical procedure that is performed under local anaesthetic and involves the removal of part of the soft palate and the uvula in order to expand the airway and stiffen the throat. In some cases the tonsils may also need to be removed. The surgery is known to be painful and there is the risk that patients will be left with unpleasant side effects such as a change to the pitch of their voices, and difficulty swallowing.

A popular modification of UPPP is LAUP or quite simply, laser assisted uvula palatoplasty. This procedure is performed under either general or local anaesthetic and involves the vaporisation of the uvula and sections of the soft palate in order to remove obstructions stiffen the palate and open the airway. As is the case with UPPP, the surgery can be incredibly painful and may result in long term side effects such as difficulty swallowing and voice changes.

Other surgical techniques include Somnoplasty, Coblation and CAPSO. Somnoplasty or radiofrequency abalation as it is sometimes called entails the insertion of a needle into the soft palate and uvula and making use of radio frequency to shrink and stiffen the tissue so as to widen the airway. Similarly, Coblation involves the use of a wand like instrument in order to remove sections of the uvula and soft palate. CAPSO on the other hand makes use of the process of cauterization to stiffen the soft palate and open the airway.

As is the case with all surgical procedures, no palatal surgery is guaranteed to cure patients of their snoring problem. Success will be dependent on a number of factors, the most important of which being that the patient adopts a healthy lifestyle both prior to and subsequent to the procedure.

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