Coblation Snoring Surgery in Hyderabad

Different people snore for different reasons because narrowing occurs in different ways. It can be in the nose, mouth, or throat.

• On the lateral side (the wall of the nose closer to the cheeks) of each passage, there are three nasal turbinates, which are long, cylindrical structures. They lie roughly parallel to the floor of the nose. If the blood vessels in the turbinates increase in size, the turbinate as a whole swells, and the flow of air decreases.
• The soft palate is a muscular extension of the bony roof of the mouth (hard palate). It is shaped like a sheet attached at three sides and hangs freely in the back of the mouth. If it is too long or floppy, it can vibrate and cause snoring.
• The uvula is a small extension at the back of the soft palate. It assists in the function of the soft palate. An abnormally long or thick uvula also can contribute to snoring.
• The tonsils are designed to detect and fight infections. Often, the tonsils do not return to their normal size after the infection is gone. They remain enlarged (hypertrophied) and can narrow the airway, causing snoring.
• The base of the tongue is farthest back in the mouth. The tongue is a large muscle that is important for directing food while chewing and swallowing. If the back of the tongue is large or if the tongue is able to slip backwards, it can narrow the space through which air flows in the pharynx, which can lead to vibrations and snoring.

There are five basic surgical procedures, which can cure snoring. They are:

• Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP)
• Laser-assisted uvuloplatoplasty (LAUP)
• Platal stiffening operations (CAPSO)
• Radio-frequency ablation (Somnoplasty)
• Co-ablation assisted Sinus Surgery (Somnoplasty)

Radio-frequency ablation is designed to shrink redundant tissue of the soft palate. The treatment involves heating the inner tissue to 85ºC, which results in the tissue beneath the skin being scarred.

Somnoplasty is minimally invasive and creates controlled lesions that have little effect on surrounding tissues. The procedure takes about 20 minutes, Somnoplasty is a low-morbidity procedure and can be performed under local anesthesia in an out-patient clinic. It does not carry the same complications as the other procedures. Somnoplasty generally requires the patient to undergo several treatment sessions but unlike the other procedures is much less painful. The applications of Somnoplasty are expanding and to date it has been useful for turbinate and palate-based snoring.

Coblation ^® technology is widely used in the field of otolaryngology for performing:

• Navigation in Endoscopic Sinus Surgery: The First Experience, Devinder Rai, Manish Munjal,and Varun Rai, Otolaryngol Clin North Am. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2009 Oct;42(5):765-79, viii. doi: 10.1016/j.otc.2009.08.014.
• Intraoperative imaging for otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery, Isaacs S1, Fakhri S, Luong A, Citardi MJ, Ann Saudi Med. 2010 Mar-Apr; 30(2): 149–152., doi: 4103/0256-4947.60522.
• Computer-aided endoscopic sinus surgery: a retrospective comparative study, Jamil N. Al-Swiahband Surayie H. Al Dousary.