Using lasers can operate without being removed tonsils
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12% of children snore when they sleep, and 2% of them also suffer from apnea or breathing stops during sleep. The cause, in most cases, is the excessive size of the tonsils and adenoids (or adenoids). The solution to this problem, which alters the function of sleep, with important implications for the health of the child, goes through a procedure in which the tonsils and adenoids are removed.
However, an alternative technique for extraction being applied with excellent results Dr. Jordi Coromina in Teknon Medical Center of Barcelona, preserving a part of the tonsils and maintain 100% its function, which is the production of antibodies. The procedure is performed using carbon dioxide laser (CO2), which allows precision cut the size of the tonsils, retaining 30% of tissue.
This type of technique, first used in Sweden for several years and currently widespread in the United States, also avoids the pain and risk of complications from conventional operation. The interventions made so far in the Teknon, over a thousand Clinic, show that this technique is perfectly feasible and is an alternative to traditional tonsillectomy. Unlike common surgery, laser tonsillar reduction is performed on an outpatient basis, ie without admission of the patient, so that healthcare costs are reduced.
The child swallowing ability normalizes within a few hours, which contrasts with the slow and painful, proper postoperative removal of the tonsils, which also involve risk of bleeding in 5% of cases. The risks involved in this conventional technique prevents the child can undergo surgery within three years, which does not happen with reduced CO2 laser tissue, which can be practiced at any age. Children with large tonsils are too heavy breathing while sleeping, often have nightmares and must make an exceptional respiratory effort.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics, conducted with 866 children, reveals that children under eight who have disturbed sleep snore because there is a three times higher risk of being hyperkinetic (attention deficit hyperactivity), which is translated, usually in school failure.
These children also are more likely to present a stunted because of the high consumption of calories during sleep, and struggling to catch the air instead of rest, and because they have diminished the deepest stage of sleep, known as REM, during which more growth hormone is produced. The fact that the child has to sleep with your mouth open you can also dental and palate malformation, lead and sinking the chest, night sweats and morning headache, for the reduction of oxygen. When, in addition to snoring, apnea exists, the problem can cause sudden death, but that only it happens in exceptional cases.
The ENT said that snoring children caused by the excessive size of the tonsils bears no resemblance to adult snoring, which is due to other factors, such as obesity or excessive thickness of the palate.
