[Endoscopy in sleep medicine]

Abstract

Endoscopic evaluation of the upper airway in patients with sleep disordered breathing (SDB) using rigid and flexible endoscopes is a typical investigation in otorhinolaryngology. Visualizing the anatomic structure as well as the dynamic mechanism of snoring and pharyngeal obstruction during wakefulness, natural sleep, and under sedation are of special interest. The results obtained have increased our understanding of SDB with obstruction of the upper airway. Videoendoscopy under sedation (ViSe) has become increasingly established as a tool to identify the therapeutic concept in cases of CPAP failure, leading to changes compared to the concept derived from basic awake endoscopy. The success of mandibular advancement devices can be adequately predicted. However, it remains unclear to what extent the success rate of surgery can be improved by ViSe. Further research into these approaches is needed in order to become valuable tools in the diagnostic work-up of patients with sleep apnea.