UVULOPALATOPHARYNGOPLASTY - TREATMENT OF OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP-APNEA IN NEUROLOGICALLY IMPAIRED PEDIATRIC-PATIENTS

Bona fide obstructive sleep apnea is rare in the pediatric age group. Traditional surgical management for pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is adenotonsillectomy alone, however, severely affected children may require uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) or tracheostomy to relie ve their obstruction. Children with OSA along with other medical malad ies (e.g. cerebral palsy, down syndrome) pose an additional challenge to the otolaryngologist due to poor muscular tone and other medical pr oblems which may complicate postoperative management, We report on 15 children (aged 23 months-13 years, mean 7.4 years), 12 with severe men tal insufficiency, with documented OSA who underwent classical or modi fied UPPP. Twelve of 15 had clinical and/or objective improvement. We conclude that UPPP has a role in the management of neurologically-impa ired children with OSA.