Voice Onset Time in Patients Using Speech Prosthesis After Total Laryngectomy.

AIM: Our study was carried out to investigate the presence of known differences in voice and articulation quality after total laryngectomy. Patients provided phonation with tracheoesophageal speech prosthesis. We recorded patients' voice onset time (VOT) values - an important parameter of acoustic analysis. METHODS: The study included 18 patients with total laryngectomy who received valvular speech prosthesis via a primary or secondary tracheoesophageal fistula between 2009 and 2011 at the Istanbul Training and Research Hospital Otorhinolaryngology Clinic. Twenty healthy male volunteers were included as the control group. All subjects produced the /pa/, /ta/, /ka/ syllables three times, and the VOT values were determined by recording the voices on a computer. RESULTS: A total of 38 male patients, 18 of which were patients with total laryngectomy and tracheoesophageal speech prosthesis (aged between 46 and 75 years, mean: 59) and 20 controls (aged between 50 and 70 years, mean: 58), were included in the study. The age distribution of the groups did not differ statistically (P > 0.05). In the total laryngectomy and tracheoesophageal speech prosthesis group, the VOT mean values of the /ka/ syllable were significantly lower than the control group, whereas the /pa/ (P = 0.848) and /ta/ VOT mean values (P = 0.809) were similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that there is no significant difference in the articulation of voiceless plosives, except for the /ka/ sound, between patients using speech prostheses after total laryngectomy and controls. For standardization of these measured values and their use in clinical practice, it may be beneficial to support this study with studies that involve more patients and examine different indicators showing the quality and intelligibility of other voice characteristics.

The prognostic significance of the 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in early-stage nonsmall cell lung cancer.

CONTEXT: The prognostic criteria for early-stage nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) wait to be explored. AIM: In this study, our aim was to evaluate the prognostic significance of the positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) value of the primary tumor in patients with a diagnosis of early-stage NSCLC who received surgical treatment. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a multicenter retrospective design. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients who had been diagnosed with early-stage NSCLC and who underwent surgery for the condition were included in this study. The preoperative fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT results of the patients were retrospectively accessed from their medical files. The disease-free survival (DFS) rates of patients who had SUVmax values above and below the determined cutoff value were compared. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: SPSS version 22 and Kaplan-Meier method were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A total of 92 patients were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 60 years (range: 36-79). The determined cutoff SUVmax value of the primary tumor was 13.6. A comparison of the DFS rates of the patients with an SUVmax value above and below 13.6 revealed a significant difference in patients with Stage I (22.9 months vs. 50.3 months; P = 0.02) and Stage II (28 months vs. 40.4 months; P = 0.04), Stage I + II (43.5 months vs. 26.1 months; P = 0,02), and Stage IIIA (14.7 months vs. 13.6 months; P = 0.92) NSCLC. CONCLUSIONS: We found that in early-stage NSCLC patients, the SUVmax value of the primary mass in 18F FDG PET/CT was a prognostic indicator for the DFS rates.

Air Injection and Transillumination in Phonosurgery: A Novel Technique.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: The goal of this study was to introduce two novel techniques in phonomicrosurgery, air injection (AIR), and transillumination (TI), to improve the diagnosis and surgical excision of pathological tissue in vocal folds during suspension laryngoscopy while preserving the healthy tissue as much as possible. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective clinical case series. METHODS: Thirty-four patients with benign vocal cord lesions who underwent phonomicrosurgery between January 2016 and May 2017 were evaluated. Pre- and intraoperative recordings were evaluated by three experienced laryngologists. Stroboscopic video images taken during the preoperative diagnosis and interoperative video recordings made before and after AIR and TI were performed were reviewed and compared. During the preoperative evaluation, the surgeons declared their surgical plans and noted changes while observing the intraoperative evaluation during AIR and TI. RESULTS: Sixty-eight vocal folds were evaluated. The initial diagnosis was found to be consistent with the final diagnosis in only 10 patients (29.4%). The diagnoses of 29 vocal folds (42.6%) and the surgical plans changed after AIR and TI. In six cases, submucosal bands, additional morphological structures in the vicinity of the primary pathology, were observed; these could only be visualized with AIR and TI. AIR and TI revealed new pathologies in four vocal folds that were noted to be normal in the preoperative evaluation. CONCLUSION: AIR and TI are useful and promising techniques to identify undiagnosed lesions in vocal folds and to increase the success of minimally invasive phonosurgery.

Dilated Minute Chambers in Laryngeal Vocal Fold Polyps: Histopathological and Ultrastructural Features.

In Reinke's space of human vocal fold, type III collagen forms a three dimensional network and this contains numerous minute chambers in between these fibers. These compartments are occupied by glycosaminoglycans and glycoproteins. In laryngeal fold lesions, such as Reinke's edema and vocal fold polyps, proteoglycan (PG)/hyaluronic acid (HA) components of extracellular matrix increased. We investigated the size and quantity of the minute chambers within Reinke's space, filled with PG/HA with the aid of transmission electron microscopy. Eight vocal fold polyps and 10 mucosal biopsies (as control group) were all evaluated by light microscopy and electron microscopy. We detected that PG/HA in extracellular matrix had been increased in vocal fold lesions when compared with control group, by Alcian Blue-pH 2.5 stain. The mean volume of the chambers in Reinke's space of normal larynx was measured as 0.040233 µm2 whereas the mean volume of these chambers in vocal fold polyps was measured as 6.420221 µm2. The difference between the volumes of these chambers in vocal fold polyps and in control group was statistically significant (P = 0.001). Within these chambers PG/HA were found and PG/HA filling these chambers were increased in vocal fold polyps. We think proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycans, especially HA, play an important role in determining biochemical properties of vocal fold lesions.

The Comparison of Pierre Robin Sequence and Non-Syndromic Cleft Palate.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate pre-operative nutritional status, associated syndromes and abnormalities, and post-operative outcomes of patients with Pierre Robin Sequence (PRS) versus those with non-syndromic isolated cleft palate (CIP). METHODS: Between January 1995 and December 2013, patients with a cleft palate Veau I-II according to the Veau classification with and without PRS who underwent primary repair were retrospectively analyzed. The nutrition status, age at the time of palatoplasty, additional anomalies, gestational complications, and post-operative speech abnormalities and outcomes were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 59 patients with PRS (PRS group) and 132 patients without PRS (non-PRS group) were included in the study. Of all patients, 92 were males and 99 were females with a mean age of 14 ±â€Š4.18 (range, 6 to 26) years. The rate of gestational complications, enteral nutrition, complete cleft, additional anomalies, and velopharyngeal insufficiency was significantly higher in the PRS group (P < 0.05). However, the incidence of fistulas and age at the time of palatoplasty did not significantly differ between the groups. CONCLUSION: Based on our study results, enteral nutrition, respiratory problems, pregnancy complications, velopharyngeal insufficiency, and additional anomalies, but not post-operative palatal fistulas, are more frequently seen in patients with PRS. Although pre-operative care and treatment and rehabilitation in patients with PRS are more complicated than those with the CIP, our experience demonstrates that meticulous repair and follow-up can minimize complications, such as fistulas.

Visible Vessels of Vocal Folds: Can they have a Diagnostic Role?

BACKGROUND: Challenges in visual identification of laryngeal disorders lead researchers to investigate new opportunities to help clinical examination. This paper presents an efficient and simple method which extracts and assesses blood vessels on vocal fold tissue in order to serve medical diagnosis. METHODS: The proposed vessel segmentation approach has been designed in order to overcome difficulties raised by design specifications of videolaryngostroboscopy and anatomic structure of vocal fold vasculature. The limited number of medical studies on vocal fold vasculature point out that the direction of blood vessels and amount of vasculature are discriminative features for vocal fold disorders. Therefore, we extracted the features of vessels on the basis of these studies. We represent vessels as vascular vectors and suggest a vector field based measurement that quantifies the orientation pattern of blood vessels towards vocal fold pathologies. RESULTS: In order to demonstrate the relationship between vessel structure and vocal fold disorders, we performed classification of vocal fold disorders by using only vessel features. A binary tree of Support Vector Machine (SVM) has been exploited for classification. Average recall of proposed vessel extraction method was calculated as 0.82 while healthy, sulcus vocalis, laryngitis classification accuracy of 0.75 was achieved. CONCLUSION: Obtained success rates showed the efficiency of vocal fold vessels in serving as an indicator of laryngeal diseases.

Classification of laryngeal disorders based on shape and vascular defects of vocal folds.

Vocal fold disorders such as laryngitis, vocal nodules, and vocal polyps may cause hoarseness, breathing and swallowing difficulties due to vocal fold malfunction. Despite the fact that state of the art medical imaging techniques help physicians to obtain more detailed information, difficulty in differentiating minor anomalies of vocal folds encourages physicians to research new strategies and technologies to aid the diagnostic process. Recent studies on vocal fold disorders note the potential role of the vascular structure of vocal folds in differential diagnosis of anomalies. However, standards of clinical usage of the blood vessels have not been well established yet due to the lack of objective and comprehensive evaluation of the vascular structure. In this paper, we present a novel approach that categorizes vocal folds into healthy, nodule, polyp, sulcus vocalis, and laryngitis classes exploiting visible blood vessels on the superior surface of vocal folds and shapes of vocal fold edges by using image processing techniques and machine learning methods. We first detected the vocal folds on videolaryngostroboscopy images by using Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) descriptors. Then we examined the shape of vocal fold edges in order to provide features such as size and splay portion of mass lesions. We developed a new vessel centerline extraction procedure that is specialized to the vascular structure of vocal folds. Extracted vessel centerlines were evaluated in order to get vascular features of vocal folds, such as the amount of vessels in the longitudinal and transverse form. During the last step, categorization of vocal folds was performed by a novel binary decision tree architecture, which evaluates features of the vocal fold edge shape and vascular structure. The performance of the proposed system was evaluated by using laryngeal images of 70 patients. Sensitivity of 86%, 94%, 80%, 73%, and 76% were obtained for healthy, polyp, nodule, laryngitis, and sulcus vocalis classes, respectively. These results indicate that visible vessels of vocal folds can act as a prognostic marker for vocal fold pathologies, as well as the vocal fold shape features, and may play a critical role in more effective diagnosis.

Effect of anti-adhesive barrier use on laryngotracheal movement after total thyroidectomy: an electrophysiological study.

Impairment of laryngotracheal movement is a possible complication after total thyroidectomy. Here, we aimed to investigate the frequency and extent of impairment of laryngotracheal movement after total thyroidectomy and the effect of anti-adhesive barrier hyaluronic acid-carboxymethylcellulose membrane positioning between strap muscles and laryngotracheal complex on deglutition. The study design is prospective clinical study. Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, Laboratory of Electrophysiology, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital. The patients who underwent total thyroidectomy were selected and dichotomized according to use of seprafilm. Each group consisted of 8 female patients. All patients were assessed clinically and electrophysiologically in the pre/postop period. Electrophysiological investigations included cricopharyngeal muscle (CPM) electromyography (EMG), submental EMG, single bolus analysis [foreburst, reburst, swallowing (pause) patterns], laryngotracheal movement analysis and results were compared between two groups. CPM EMG was normal in both groups. Duration of submental muscle activity during dry and 15 cc water swallowing was similar between two groups (P = 0.751). Pause duration was shorter in group with seprafilm (P < 0.01). Dysphagia limit was 15 cc in both groups. The fore/rebound bursts duration, the time of laryngeal elevation, closure and suspension were similar (P = 0.954). We concluded that use of seprafilm between larynx and strap muscles during total thyroidectomy does not have any adverse effects on swallowing. Anti-adhesive barrier can be used safely during thyroid surgery.

Effects of septoplasty on speech and voice.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was subjective and objective evaluation of changes in acoustic features of voice before and after septoplasty surgery. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective. METHODS: Twenty patients scheduled for septoplasty procedure were included in the study. Before and 1 and 3 months after septoplasty surgery, acoustic analysis were performed. The recordings of /a/ vowel were used to evaluate average fundamental frequency (F0), Jitter percent, and Shimmer percent. In spectrographic analyses, F3-F4 values for the vowels /i, e, a, o, and u/, nasal formant frequencies of the consonants /m/ and /n/ in the word /mana/, and four formant frequencies (F1, F2, F3, and F4) for nasalized /a/ vowel following a nasal consonant /n/ in the word /mana/ were compared. For the perceptual evaluation, the patients were asked to read the Turkish "Dere" passage. The differences in nasal resonance and subjective evaluations were rated. RESULTS: A statistically significant change was not observed in F0 (P=0.307), Jitter (P=0.919), and Shimmer (P=0.024) values measured before and after the operation for vowel /a/. Nasal formants measured before and after the operation for nasal formant /m/ and nasal formant /n/ in the word /mana/, which contains nasal consonants, and nasalized vowel /a/, which comes after a nasal consonant, did not differ statistically significant (P=0.096 and P=0.034, respectively). Comparisons among F1, F2, F3, and F4 values did not reveal a statistically significant change for nasalized vowel /a/, which comes after a nasal consonant in the word /mana/. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that a complete therapeutic approach to patients affected by nasal septum deviation do not reveal significant voice abnormalities.

Salivary and serum myeloperoxidase in obstructive sleep apnea.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical utility of serum and saliva myeloperoxidase (MPO) and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as markers of inflammation in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). DESIGN: Prospective, controlled, observational study. SETTING: Snoring and respiratory sleep disorders centre at a tertiary hospital. METHODS: This study included 32 OSA-diagnosed patients and 24 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects following endoscopic airway evaluation and polysomnography. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Saliva and serum MPO levels were analyzed by flow cytometry. Serum CRP levels were determined using a latex assay. The different groups were compared through parametric tests. Linear and logistic regression models using The Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) as a dependent variable assessed the association of independent variables, including saliva and serum MPO levels, serum CRP levels, age, and body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: Salivary MPO and serum CRP levels were significantly higher in the OSA group compared to controls (p < .0001, p  =  .0001). A moderate positive correlation was detected between saliva MPO and AHI, the oxygen desaturation index, and sleep efficiency (p  =  .0001, p  =  .0001, and p  =  .0002, respectively) by excluding potential confounding factors (age and BMI). Salivary MPO and BMI levels were associated with AHI in a linear regression model (p < .0001) and found to be concordant variables with the presence of OSA. CONCLUSION: Increased salivary MPO levels in OSA subjects in this study support previously defined persistent local inflammation in these patients. Therefore, salivary MPO levels may be useful as oropharyngeal inflammatory markers in OSA patients.

Multidimensional evaluation of vocal function after supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidopexy.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the vocal outcome and the impact of arytenoid resection on vocal function following supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidopexy. METHODS: Twenty-eight male patients who had undergone supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidopexy were included in the study. In 7 patients, one arytenoid cartilage had been totally resected; in 11, both arytenoid cartilages had been preserved; and in 10, one arytenoid cartilage had been partially resected. The maximum phonation time, fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio were assessed and analyzed. Perceptual analysis was performed with the grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain (GRBAS) scale. Abduction-adduction and anteroposterior squeezing actions were analyzed from videoendoscopic records. The Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) was used for self-assessment. RESULTS: The acoustic and aerodynamic parameters and GRBAS score showed severe impairment. The self-assessment revealed that patients were relatively satisfied with their voice quality. There were no statistically significant differences in the acoustic and aerodynamic parameters, the GRBAS score, or the VHI-10 score according to the level of arytenoid resection. CONCLUSIONS: Supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidopexy caused deterioration of acoustic and aerodynamic voice parameters and the GRBAS score. Statistically, the level of arytenoid resection had no apparent effect on the objective, perceptual, or subjective voice parameters.

Cricopharyngeal muscle electromyography findings in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the grade of reflux and the behavior of the cricopharyngeal muscle (CPM) in patients with gastroesophageal reflux (GER) by means of electromyographic (EMG) analysis of CPM. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective clinical study. SETTING: Istanbul Training and Research Hospital. SUBJECT AND METHODS: Motor unit potential (MUP) recordings and kinesiological recordings of CPM were performed using a concentric needle electrode during dry material swallowing and 3-, 5-, and 10-mL water swallowing. Twenty-four patients with GER were compared with 21 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: GER was mild in 15 patients and moderate-to-severe in 9 patients. MUP recordings were normal in both groups during the preswallowing/postswallowing periods. Kinesiological investigations revealed that the number of patients who did not show a preswallow EMG burst had a positive correlation with the severity of reflux and the amount of liquid swallowed. Rebound bursts were observed in the patient and the control groups. Duration of preswallow and rebound bursts was similar in all groups. Duration of swallowing was shorter in mild GER patients compared with healthy volunteers and moderate-to-severe GER patients. Piecemeal deglutition during 10-mL liquid swallowing was higher in moderate-to-severe GER patients. We also found a positive correlation between the number of swallows and the severity of reflux. CONCLUSION: Needle EMG of the upper esophageal sphincter was normal in GER patients. Kinesiological evaluations showed increased piecemeal deglutition and number of swallows that correlated positively with the severity of GER.

Assessment of videolaryngostroboscopy images based on visible vessels of vocal folds.

Extraction of vessel structures and the vessel features automatically forms an essential step for computer-aided diagnosis. Visible vessels of vocal folds become a diagnostic aid for vocal fold pathologies by publication of limited number of researches which analyze the effects of vocal fold pathologies on visual characteristics of blood vessels. In this paper we present a novel system that extracts blood vessels centerlines on vocal folds images and detects pathologically altered vocal folds exploiting visual characteristics of vessels.

FDG Uptake Pattern on PET/CT Imaging in Non-Infectious Graft of a Patient with Operated Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.

UNLABELLED: Positron emission tomography using fluorodeoxyglucose is a well known diagnostic tool for routine assessment of the patients with carcinoma. Fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, as a marker of glucose metabolism, is increased in malignant conditions as well as infectious and inflammatory processes. In this case report, findings of postoperative changes in the graft on FDG PET/CT were presented in a patient on follow-up for operated renal cell carcinoma and aortic aneurysm graft surgery. The importance of the FDG uptake pattern has been pointed out for differential diagnosis of infectious and non-infectious conditions. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None declared.

Tensile characteristics of costal and septal cartilages used as graft materials.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the biomechanical characteristics of septal cartilage (SC) and costal cartilage (CC) taken from fresh cadavers using tensile testing and to establish CC graft material of a suitable thickness (ie, with tensile characteristics closest to those of SC). METHODS: Grafts of varying thickness were harvested from the central part of the seventh-rib CC and SC of 18 fresh cadavers. Tensile testing was performed with a 0.5-kilonewton load calibrated at 7 mm/min. The results were shown as a force-elongation curve. RESULTS: No significant difference according to tensile force was observed between the SC group and the 1.0-mm and 1.5-mm CC groups (P = .09 and P = .32, respectively). However, a significant difference was observed between the SC group and the 2.0-mm CC group (P = .04). Although the strength value of the CC group was 5.03 MPa, the modulus of elasticity was 1.33 MPa. In the SC group, the strength value was 12.42, but the modulus of elasticity was 1.39 MPa. The strength value of the SC group was higher than that of the CC group (P = .001), but the modulus of elasticity value of the CC group was higher than that of the SC group (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: From the standpoint of tensile testing for preparing columellar struts, 1.0-mm and 1.5-mm CC have similar characteristics to SC and thus can be used instead of it. However, it is important to determine the thickness of CC by considering the expected characteristics of the established material and the forces that affect the area in the nose where the graft will be placed.

The effects of verbal reaction time in Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Verbal fluency deteriorates with normal aging, but is much more severe in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Verbal functions were analyzed to find differences between normal aging subjects in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and in patients with early and moderate stages of AD. This study measured the verbal response time in patients with AD, MCI, and in control subjects STUDY DESIGN: This study measured the verbal response time in patients with AD, MCI, and in control subjects METHODS: Fifteen patients with MCI, 15 patients with early AD, 8 patients with moderate AD, and 15 subjects for controls were included in the study. Word length in milliseconds, reaction time to a phoneme, word, or sentence and acoustic analysis of voice quality and speech diadochokinetic rate (DDK) were measured. RESULTS: Reaction time for a phoneme, word, or sentence especially the initiation period for them were longer in patients with early AD compared to patients with MCI (P < .001). The mean DDK rate was lower with increased severity of the disease, and was much more severe in patients with moderate AD. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical discrimination of the early stages of AD and MCI is challenging. Unfortunately, there are no laboratory markers present for the diagnosis of preclinical cases of AD. With the results of this study, the assessments of verbal reaction time may helpful for diagnosis of early AD.

Ossifying fibroma of the inferior turbinate.

Hypertrophy of inferior turbinate is a common condition, especially with nasal septum deviation. Sometimes, the cause of hypertrophy of inferior turbinate can be fibro-osseous lesions. Benign, rare, and non-aggressive fibro-osseous neoplasms such as ossifying fibroma can affect paranasal sinuses. Isolated inferior turbinate involvement is extremely rare in ossifying fibroma. In this article, we present a 28-year-old female suffering from nasal obstruction due to septal deviation and hypertrophy of inferior turbinate. Preoperative and postoperative investigation show that cause of hypertrophy of inferior turbinate is ossifying fibroma. To our knowledge, that this is the second case of ossifying fibroma reported in the English-language literature due to its isolated localization. However, if the patients with inferior turbinate hypertrophy are examined carefully, we can prevent unnecessary medical treatment and surgery for inferior turbinate hypertrophy.

Does nasal obstruction affect the articulation of plosive consonants?

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we investigated the impact of chronic nasal obstruction on articulation of the Turkish voiceless plosive (stop) consonants and examined the effect of the nose- and mouth-breathing on the articulatory characteristics of the specific speech sounds. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-one controls with nose-breathing and 20 patients with mouth breathing were included in this study. The nasal obstruction history of the patients was 10 to 22 years. In the mouth-breather group, intranasal pathologies except septal deviation and turbinate hypertrophy were excluded. The nose-breather subjects without nasal pathologies served as the control group. The subjects graded nasal obstruction through visual analog scale (VAS) from 0 to 10. The minimal cross-sectional area (MCA) and minimal cross-sectional volume (MCV) at the level of septal tubercle and the head of inferior turbinate were established to be 1 and 2 by acoustic rhinometry. Minimal cross-sectional volume was defined as the volume below the curve. The syllables [pa], [ta], [ka] uttered by the subjects were recorded for the spectrographic analysis. Voice onset time (VOT) was measured on wide-band spectrogram. RESULTS: The VOT value of /p/ was found lower and the VOT values for /t/ and /k/ were found higher in mouth-breathers compared to nose-breathers, while the difference was not statistically significant. The right and left-sided VAS values of the nasal obstruction group were significantly higher compared to controls (p=0.001). The right and left-sided MCA1, MCA2, MCV1 and MCV2 were found statistically different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the articulation features of plosive consonants were not significantly affected by nasal obstruction.

Does the length of uvula affect the palatal implant outcome in the management of habitual snoring?

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: To evaluate the impact of the uvular length on the efficacy of palatal implants in primary snoring. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective case series, tertiary hospital, snoring and respiratory sleep disorders center. METHODS: Forty subjects with inserted palatal implants and diagnoses of primary snoring were included. All met the inclusion criteria of age >18 years, body mass index <30, apnea-hypopnea index <5, tonsil grade <3, soft-palate length >25 mm, and Friedman tongue position <3 following clinical, endoscopic, and polysomnographic evaluation. Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) and the snoring-intensity visual analogue scale (VAS) were recorded before and 9 months after the implant. Four subjects with extruded implants were excluded; the remaining 36 subjects were divided into two groups, Group I and Group II, with uvular lengths of ≤15 mm and >15 mm, respectively. The study assessed and compared subjective outcome measures including the partner's satisfaction (PS), partner's reported improvement (PRI), 50% VAS and ESS reduction, and subjective success (SS) defined as 50% VAS reduction. The Student t test, χ(2) test, and logistic regression models were used for statistical evaluation. RESULTS: SS (50% VAS reduction), PS, PRI, and 50% ESS reduction were significantly higher in Group I (P < .001, P = .0257, P = .027, P < .001). The overall SS, PRI, PS, and 50% ESS reduction were 33%, 78%, 50%, and 50%, respectively. The uvular length was found to be the determinant factor of SS (P = .005; odds ratio = 0.75), PRI (P = .039; odds ratio = 0.83), and 50% ESS reduction (P = .038; odds ratio: 0.84) following implant insertion through stepwise logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Excess uvular length (>15 mm) is an important anatomic feature decreasing the efficacy of palatal implants in snoring, and additional measures, such as uvulectomy, should be considered simultaneously for better outcomes (level 4).