Comparison of the effectiveness of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty and laser palatoplasty for snoring.

We present the surgical management of 51 patients with a primary diagnosis of snoring. Patients with sleep apnoea syndrome were eliminated from the study. Four procedures were used: the classical uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, a limited uvulopalatoplasty, laser palatoplasty with tonsillectomy; and laser palatoplasty alone. Fifty-one of the 67 patients (76.1%) responded to a telephone questionnaire with a mean follow-up period of 18.2 months, 78.4% of patients reported improved or absent snoring. There was almost equal patient satisfaction between the conventional technique and the laser technique. The improvement in snoring was not influenced by the type of operation performed.