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.
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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.
Silent night
The technique, developed at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, can reduce snoring loudness from 11 decibels to two 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�