By Pat Hagan for the Daily Mail
Published: 22:22 GMT, 18 February 2019 | Updated: 22:22 GMT, 18 February 2019
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Breakthrough: A U.S. firm has developed a hand-held probe, called Vivaer, that can destroy bulky nasal tissue in minutes
Sticking a hot probe up the nose to clear blocked airways may end snoring for good in some people.
The probe — which heats up to 60c — about the temperature of hot water from a tap — uses radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to shrink swollen tissue causing the blockage.
Energy produced by radio waves generates heat; RFA is already used to destroy tumour cells in patients with liver, kidney or lung cancer.
Now a U.S. firm has developed a hand-held probe, called Vivaer, that can destroy bulky nasal tissue in minutes.
Nasal congestion is a major cause of snoring as it forces people to breathe through their mouths as they sleep. This makes soft tissue at the back of the throat vibrate, causing the snoring sound.
Sometimes the congestion may be due to allergic rhinitis, where pollen, dust or fur causes inflammation in the nasal passages. In these cases, antihistamines and steroid nasal sprays can help.
But for thousands with severe nasal congestion, currently, the only option is surgery. This is usually suggested when there is a narrowing of the nasal valve, an area made up of three parts.
These include the septum — the structure in the middle of the nose that separates the nostrils — the lateral wall (the outer part of the nostrils) and the turbinates, finger-shaped strips of tissue in the nasal passages that warm air as it enters the nasal cavity.
Around 30,000 NHS patients a year have a septoplasty — an operation to straighten a
