Abstract
Objectives: As primary snoring is an innocuous but bothersome parasomnia, surgical treatment has to be as less invasive as possible. The aim of our study was to determine the safety and efficacy of a new soft palatal implant procedure for the reduction of palatal snoring.
Methods: 15 healthy patients with primary snoring due to palatal flutter were enrolled into this prospective study after clinical and endoscopic examination and polysomnography (PSG) (41.2 ± 8.6 years; body mass index, 26.2 ± 2.5 kg/m2). The Anti-Snoring-Device is a cylindrical implant braided of polyester filaments. Under local anesthesia, three implants intended for permanent implantation were placed into the soft palate as close to the midline as possible. Snoring was assessed by visual analog scale (VAS), PSG, and the SNAP system before and 90 days after surgery.
Results: All implants could be placed without any complications. Only little discomfort was reported in some cases the first 3 days after the procedure. At the 90-day follow-up, snoring was reduced from 7.3 ± 1.6 to 2.5 ± 2.1 (VAS, P < 0.01) and from 347 ± 239 to 264 ± 168 snoring sounds/hour (SNAP, P > 0.05). PSG data as well as speech, swallowing, and taste remained unchanged.
Conclusions: The Anti-Snoring-Device is a new surgical tool offering a simple and minimally invasive procedure. One advantage is that it does not sacrifice any tissue in order to achieve its purpose. Our subjective data demonstrate its safety and efficacy as well as good patients' acceptance. Further studies are needed to obtain long-term results.