Results of upper airway surgery in < 2 year old children with severe obstructive sleep apnea

Introduction: Few data are available on the surgical management of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children Aim: To investigate the outcome of surgical management for OSA in young children. Methods: OSA was documented by full night polysomnography (PSG). All children underwent a drug induced sedation endoscopy (DISE). Treatment decisions were based upon data PSG and DISE. Values are presented as median (25 th -75 th percentile) Results: Data are available for 37 children, 17 boys girls and 20 boys. The children had severe OSA with an obstructive apnea/hypopnea index (oAHI) of 16.8/hr (8.4-28.4). Age at baseline PSG was 1.4 years (1.1-1.7) and age at intervention was 1.8 years (1.3-2.1). The youngest child was 8.6 months old at the age of ATE. Treatment was as follows: adenotomy (n=4), ATE (n=26), tonsillectomy (n=1), ATE + CPAP (n=1), medical treatment (n=2), CPAP (n=3). Pre-postoperative PSG data were available for 21 surgically treated children (18 ATE, 2 adenotomy, 1 tonsillectomy). A significant reduction was found in oAHI from 15.6/hr (8.4-31.9) to 0.9 (0.4-3.3) (p Conclusion: Upper airway surgery, (adeno) tonsillectomy, resulted in a resolution of OSA in 71.4% of children