Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty
摘要
Snoring is caused by vibrations of soft tissues in constricted segments of the upper airway during respiration while asleep. It is sign of the nonsymptomatic primary snoring and of the symptomatic snoring of the upper airway resistance syndrome and of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), all of them belonging to the subgroup of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). To reduce excessive pharyngeal tissue for snoring patients, Ikematsu [22] introduced palatopharyngoplasty and partial uvulectomy in 1964. Fujita et al. [15] modified the technique for patients with OSA syndrome and termed it uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) in 1981. In the meantime, several modifications of UPPP with and without tonsillectomy/tonsillotomy (T) were published and were described and illustrated in the book Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea [11]. Newer methods of softpalate surgery are depicted in Surgery for Sleep-Disordered Breathing Second Edition [19] and in Verse and Stuck [44].