快猫短视频

A SIMPLE injection in the back of the mouth can silence snorers and help them
and their families get a good night鈥檚 sleep.

鈥淭he 鈥榮noreplasty鈥� procedure is simple, effective, relatively painless and
the average cost per patient is only about $35,鈥� Scott Brietzke told
delegates last week at a meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology鈥檚
Head and Neck Surgery in Denver. The procedure involves injecting a chemical
called tetradecyl sulphate into the fleshy soft palate at the back of the
throat.

People snore if these tissues flutter and come into contact with each other
during sleep. These tissues can also cause sleep apnoea by blocking the throat,
making people wake up repeatedly. One common but drastic solution is to cut away
portions of the soft palate, says Andrew Cummin of London鈥檚 Charing Cross
Hospital.

The tetradecyl sulphate works instead by destroying some of the tissues in
the soft palate. This forms scar tissue, which stiffens the soft palate,
reducing the amount of fluttering and hence snoring.

The technique, developed at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda,
Maryland, can reduce snoring loudness from 11 decibels to 2 decibels. Of the 27
patients treated so far, a quarter relapsed after a year or more as the scar
tissue softened, but most were successfully retreated, says Brietzke.

鈥淭his certainly seems preferable to trimming the soft palate,鈥� says Cummin.
鈥淭rimming the palate can cause irreparable damage. If too much of the palate is
removed, patients can experience regurgitation of fizzy drinks through their
nostrils, or they can have trouble swallowing.鈥�