Treatment of snoring disorder with a non-ablactive Er:YAG laser dual mode protocol. An interventional study

BACKGROUND: Snoring disorder is a common problem among world population. Treatment modalities may involve surgical and non-surgical procedures. As main objective we proposed to evaluate the efficacy of non-ablative Er:YAG laser in the treatment of snoring disorder. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed an interventional study in 30 patients with snoring disorders. Three sessions were performed with Er:YAG laser 2940nm in long pulse mode (2J/cm2) and smooth mode (10-8J/cm2) in oropharynx region. We analyzed the efficacy of this protocol using questionnaires for snoring intensity, snoring related characteristics of quality of life (including the Epworth sleepness scale and OHIP-14), the satisfaction of the patients and existence of adverse effects comparing the results before and after the treatment using Wilcoxon Signed Rank test. RESULTS: There was a 96.7% satisfaction rate after one month of treatment, and 96.4% after 6 months. A reduction of the severity of snoring from 8±1.9 before the treatment to 1.6±1.1 one month after treatment was observed (p<0.001). Decrease in mean values of Epworth sleepness scale (9.97±5.3 to 6.54±4.3) (p=0.002), and OHIP-14 score (10.9±6.2 to 5.9±5) (p<0.001) were also noted. A significant decrease in the Mallampatti and Friedman classification scores were observed (p=0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). No anesthesia was required, nor adverse effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Non-ablative Er:YAG laser treatment is a safe, painless, and can be an effective treatment option to reduce snoring and is well accepted by the patient. However, further controlled studies with longer follow-up are required. Key words:Er:YAG laser, snoring, sleep disorders, epworth sleepiness scale, OHIP-14.