Uvula

UVULA (diminutive of uva-lingula), a conically rounded termination of the soft palate; it is sometimes, as a result of arrested development, split to a greater or lesser extent by a groove into two parts (uvula bifida). A double uvula may be removed by the operation of staphyloplasty. In newborns the uvula is still little developed, whereas in old age it is very voluminous. Owing to scars or paralysis it may have an oblique direction or assume a spiral form. Besides the own muscle of the uvula (m. azygos uvulae) individual muscular fibers of the muscles of the soft palate terminate in it, which gives the uvula greater mobility. Inflammation of the uvula (staphylitis) is caused by its participation in various inflammatory diseases of the pharyngeal and throat region. An inflamed uvula has a great tendency to swell greatly. Apoplexy of the uvula often occurs as a result of trauma during inflammatory processes of the throat, when hemorrhage turns the uvula into a shapeless, blue-purple swelling. In cases of a sharp increase in a chronically inflamed uvula, which by its contact with the root of the tongue causes coughing and other irritations, recourse is had to partial or complete amputation of the uvula by a polypous loop.