[Respiratory sleep disorders: benefit from laser-surgery]. / Lasertherapie bei schlafbezogenen Atemstörungen. Am Schnarchzapfen sägen.

ABSTRACT

Laser-assisted surgery is a valid option for the treatment of respiratory sleep disorders and complements established therapies. Laser-surgery of the inferior turbinates can improve nasal obstruction and amend or eliminate primary snoring. LAUP is as well an ambulant therapeutic method for snoring, but it is leading to strong post-operative pain and should exclusively be applied to patients with small tonsils or who already underwent tonsillectomy. OSAS can be worsened by LAUP and should therefore be excluded before the operation. In childhood OSAS laser tonsillotomy leads to a distinct improvement of sleep-disordered breathing with normalisation of the sleeping profile; it is less painful than tonsillectomy and a part of the tonsil is left to continue to exercise its function in the immune system.