ABSTRACT
A careful evaluation of the oral cavity and hypopharynx is necessary as part of the physical examination, as is a careful history of the symptoms of sleep disordered breathing, particularly daytime sleepiness, hypertension, morning headaches, etc. Preoperative laboratory testing may require a coronal computed tomography (CT) of the sinuses to assess the presence of sinus disease. An overnight sleep study may already have been done in the majority of individuals with suspected sleep disordered breathing. If it has not been done, it should be carefully considered prior to surgery designed to correct the nasal obstruction. Nasal surgery is in a unique position since chronic nasal obstruction nonresponsive to medical management should be treated with surgery whether the patient has sleep apnea or not. This raises the question of whether every snorer with nasal obstruction should be evaluated with an overnight sleep test. Each case should be judged on its own merit and whether to routinely test or not will not be discussed further here; it has been discussed in a previous paper (4).
