NEW YORK, July 29: Millions of snorers could enjoy peaceful slumber with new technology approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that shrinks tissues blocking air passages.

The procedure aims to cure snoring and a more serious ailment, sleep apnea, which is a recurrent halting of breath that can wake sufferers repeatedly, or, in rare instances, suffocate them.

The potential benefits for soothing troubled sleepers are enormous. Forty million Americans, more than one in seven, suffer from habitual snoring, according to a 1994 report to Congress by the National Commission on Sleep Disorders' research.

Of the 7 million to 18 million Americans who suffer from sleep apnea, an estimated 38,000 die each year of related heart complications, according to the report. Older and obese people, especially men, are particularly at risk, according to researchers.

At 5 feet, 4 inches (1.63 meters) tall and weighing 116 pounds (52 kilograms), Christine Higgins hardly fits the profile.

But the 48-year-old Baltimore resident's resounding snores often drove her husband to sleep in a guest room before she had the first of two somnoplasty procedures done at the University of Maryland Medical Center in May.

``Now he can sleep with me. Usually he leaves,'' she said. Unlike laser surgery, the somnoplasty technology the company uses to treat sleep apnea works at relatively low temperatures and leaves outer tissue such as taste buds intact, with a small cut on the surface.

A radio frequency generator connected to a narrow needle penetrates the surface of the tongue, throat or soft palette and destroys a small area of inner tissue by generating a heat of 158 to 176 degrees Fahrenheit, well below the boiling point. The outpatient procedure is over in about half an hour.

The market for anti-snoring gadgets is about $ 275 million, with $ 42 million in related hospitalisation fees, according to Somnus, a privately held company founded last year.

Some current sleep disorder patients pay about $ 2,000 for overnight testing and air-pressure machines designed to ease breathing during sleep. Others pay $ 20,000 for surgery to remove tissues that block the air passage.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.