Punctate diathermy of the soft palate in snorers

ABSTRACT

To find out the effect of punctate diathermy of the soft palate in management of snoring. A prospective study of 50 consecutive patients of snoring admitted for management. ENT Unit, Hospitals, attached to Medical College, Bikaner and to Medical College, Kota Rajasthan Stale of India. Fifty patients of simple snoring clinically assessed and graded according to type and severity of snoring. Cured, improved or unchanged by the employed procedure in management. Thirty three patients with simple nonapnoeic snoring of grade II to IV were managed by punctate diathermy of soft palate. Twenty two [66.66%] cured and eight patients showed improvement while three [9.9%] remained unchanged. Punctate diathermy of soft palate results in stiffening of musculature, without comprising its function. Conclusions: Punctate diathermy of the soft palate is being found to be a simple, safe and alternate procedure to clinical surgery [UPPP] in management of simple, less severe non-apnoeic cases of snoring