A new treatment for snoring: sling snoreplasty with a permanent thread.

CONCLUSION: Sling snoreplasty could be a new effective palatal snoring procedure with minimal side effects. It could be combined with other snoring and sleep apnea operations.
OBJECTIVES: To introduce sling snoreplasty with a permanent thread. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The procedure is performed under local anesthesia and in the sitting position. The instrument requirements include a nylon no. 4 suture, two needle-holders (or one needle-holder and a straight kelly), and a tongue depressor. Sling snoreplasty with a permanent thread is a retention suture technique applied to three portions of redundant soft palate in a triangular, tetragonal or pentagonal shape.
RESULTS: Sling snoreplasty could be called a three-dimensional retention suture technique to shorten, conglomerate, and tense the soft palate. It also elevates the soft palate forward and upward, and widens the oral cavity and nasopharyngeal space. The suture not only provides a sling effect in the soft palate but also incorporates into the soft palate musculature, imparting rigidity to the airway like tongue suspension suture. Patients have only a little pain and normal diet on the day after surgery. There are minimal postoperative complications.