The health condition of children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea becomes much better in terms of attention, anxiety and quality of life after treatment with positive airway pressure (PAP).

It delivers a stream of air through a mask into the nose. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a condition of interrupted breathing caused by a narrowing in the throat or upper airway, related to large tonsils, obesity or other medical problems.

Using PAP commonly relieves OSAS in adults, among whom it has been studied extensively. However, there have been few studies of PAP in children with OSAS, the American Journal of Respiratory and Clinical Care Medicine reports.

“The benefits occurred even when children didn’t fully adhere to the treatment,” said study leader Carole L. Marcus, sleep specialist and director of the Sleep Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The Sleep Center follows thousands of children and adolescents with sleep problems, according to a Children’s Hospital statement. Read the rest of this entry

Sheiner suspected that he had sleep apnea which ran in his family, despite the fact that he was not overweight, which was the major reason for the disorder. This was confirmed by a sleep study and his doctors stated that his case was one of the worst cases of sleep apnea. Finally, after undergoing various treatments his doctors decided to perform a robotic surgery.

Erica Thaler, an ENT surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital reveals that Sheiner’s sleep study showed that he woke up over 112 times every hour meaning that Sheiner didn’t breathe for ten seconds i.e. about two times in a minute. Sleep apnea is being treated with a robotic surgery to remove the cancerous tumors found at the back of the throat. Sleep apnea is a common and chronic sleep disorder where patients stop breathing while asleep. They suddenly and repeatedly gasp for breath in the night due to enlarged tonsilar tissue and tonsils, their airways are blocked. Read the rest of this entry

A recently concluded U.S.research study established that studying the sleeping behavior of children might help point out who are at high risks of developing respiratory disorders after surgical removal of their adenoids and tonsils. The research involves studying the medical records in a pediatric hospital of as many as 1,131 children who had undergone surgery.

The researchers discovered that there were 151 patients who participated in polysomnography (sleep study) before going under the knife. Out of that number, 23 later developed respiratory problems. The same number of children scored much higher than their healthy counterparts on the apnea-hyopnea index.

The index is designed to measure how severe a person is suffering from sleep apnea, as well as the gravity of disruptions they experience while sleeping and low levels of oxygen in their blood. Meanwhile, the children who scored high on the hyopnea index were found to take very shallow breaths and thus exhibited severely low respiratory rates.

In a recently completed research study the researchers examined that among children undergoing adenotonsillectomy for obstructive sleep apnea, what are the responsible factors that promote incomplete resolution of obstructive sleep apnea.

In quest to this exploration researchers  attempted to assess the efficacy of surgical removal of the tonsils and adenoids (adenotonsillectomy [AT]) in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children, and to delineate factors associated with persistent OSA, a retrospective review of pre- and postsurgery polysomnograms (PSG) through a research study which was conducted at eight facilities in the US and Europe. Read the rest of this entry

Central Washington Sleep Diagnostic Center recently opened it’s second branch in Moses Lake at 2323 W. Broadway Ave., Unit 4.

The sleep center is here to help people experiencing sleeping disorders, as more than 70 million Americans’ sleep is currently affected. The affects of sleep deprivation include depression, brain fog, change in mental status, short-term memory loss, weight gain, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, traffic accidents, workplace accidents and injuries. Read the rest of this entry