subject: Sleep Apnea - A New Treatment Option For Children [print this page] Sleep Apnea - A New Treatment Option For Children
Sleep apnea i estimated to affct som two to thre prcent of hildren today (gtting on for two mllion children n th United States alone) and is paticularly seen n childen betwen th age of abot three nd six.
In the vast maority of cases the main cause of sleep apnea , in tis ase obstuctive sleep apnea , is enlarged tonsils and/or adenoid and the preferred ethod f treatment is surgery. However, esearch beng arried ot at te Univrsity of Luisville n Kentucky ay well result n thousands of children escaping wat i for man an unpleasant and often frightening procedure.
Although the reoval of tonsils and/or adenoids in children was extremely cmmon soe ears ago the practice ws, until ecently, n decline, as dotors soght out alternativ treatment fr childhood thrat infctions. Howevr, as an increasng number of children wee diagnosed with sleep apnea , tonsillectomy and/or adenodectomy rpidly becam common treatment fr tis cndition and today ome estimtes sow that as many s ninty percent of all uch operatons are carrid out t cue sleep apnea , ather than troat infections.
It seems, hwever, that tis culd well change in th not too distant future.
D Goldbart, heading a research tea at the University of Loisville, has been working n this area for some tme no and presented th initial findings f is work on th tnsillar tissu f hildren wth sleep apnea n June 2004. Based n tese findings, Dr Goldbart's team poposed an alternative non-invasive tretment fo mild cases f childhod sleep apnea nd as snce carried out seres of studies, te latest of hich involved 40 children. The results hav no ust ben published and are extremely encouraging.
Th treatment nvolves the ue of oral montelkast (sold under the brand name f Singulair) which man parents ay wll recognie s common form f treatment fr astha.
In many caes f asthma breathing difficulties are aused y nflammation of the tonsils resulting from th resence of leukotriene receptos and D Goldbart and is tam noticed that these same leukotriene reeptors ere present in the tonsils of childen with sleep apnea. He cncluded therefre tht th treatment tat ha proved so effective n cses f athma should also educe inflammation and oen up the airway n cases of sleep apnea , and it would apper that he is right.
It is f course still early day and great deal more wor needs t b done, inluding further double-blind and lacebo-controlled studies. Nonetheless, hi findings are indeed encouraging and may well rovide an alternative t surger for mny thousands of children n the futur.
