Snoring in children

Gentle help for little snores

08/07/2013

Loud breath sounds at night are common among adults. But not only the big snores, children also suffer. About half of all offspring between one and four years of age snore occasionally, eight percent of them even every night. What many parents usually do not know: The trigger of nocturnal sawing is often a serious narrowing of the airways by enlarged palatal tonsils, which in the worst case even lead to dangerous breathing mischiefs. Help enable tissue-preserving procedures using a laser or radio frequency.

Parents should take their children's snoring seriously because the little ones wake up more often at night than their non-snoring peers due to shortness of breath or even total respiratory failure. Thus, they get too little restful sleep, but forms an important basis for the natural development of the child. „In contrast to adults who lack sleepiness are characterized by drowsiness, tired children behave more active, restless and impatient“ warns Joachim Maiwald of the HNOnet NRW. In addition to aggressiveness, this is often associated with hyperactivity, inattention and even depression in children. Often the sawing breath sounds therefore also lead to school problems. Other consequences of loud snoring: dental disease. When breathing with the mouth open, it dries out and provides a perfect breeding ground for pathogens „Karius and Baktus“. A disturbance of food intake with loss of appetite and failure to thrive may occur. Loose speech, malformations in the mouth and jaw area and frequent middle ear infections are not uncommon. Parents should therefore often have an ear on the nocturnal breathing of their child to determine changes.

If the attending ENT specialist diagnoses enlarged palatine tonsils, so-called tonsillotomy, a gentle partial removal of the palatine tonsils using a laser or radio frequency technique, is the method of choice. It causes little pain and in contrast to conventional surgery hardly bleeding. This makes it particularly suitable for children under five years. „In contrast to the total removal of the palatine tonsils, the rest of the almond tissue remains in the gentle tonsillotomy, which maintains the defense function against pathogens and thus supports the immune system of the child“, explains Dr. Maiwald. „This procedure has a very low risk of rebleeding and causes only little pain.“ This way, the little patients can eat solid food again on the day of the operation without suffering from heavy swallowing difficulties. In addition, they are allowed to return home a few hours after the procedure to recover completely.

During the procedure, the surgeon reduces the patient's enlarged palate tonsils by about one third or even half of their initial volume. Unlike with a scalpel, the wound surface becomes „welded“, causing no or minimal bleeding. The procedure usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes and is performed on an outpatient basis under general anesthesia. Tonsillotomy is used approximately 100,000 times a year in Germany and is regarded worldwide as a safe surgical method with a success rate of over 90 percent. Since April 2012, almost all statutory health insurance companies have taken over the procedure. Chronic almonds, which are also common in children, continue to treat ENT doctors with tonsillectomy, which is a complete removal of the tissue. (Pm)