Sleep Apnea A New Treatment Option For Children

Sleep apnea is a condition that is estimated to affect upwards of three percent of children. This amounts to nearly two million children in the U.S. It is most prevalent in children from the ages of three to six.

For the larger number of these children, whose apnea is a result of enlarged tonsils or adenoids resulting in obstructive sleep apnea, the preferred treatment is surgery to remove the adenoids or tonsils.

Although the removal of tonsils and/or adenoids in children was extremely common some years ago the practice was, until recently, in decline, as doctors sought out alternative treatments for childhood throat infections. However, as an increasing number of children were diagnosed with sleep apnea, tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy rapidly became a common treatment for this condition and today some estimates show that as many as ninety percent of all such operations are carried out to cure sleep apnea, rather than throat infections.

But now there is research being performed by the University of Louisville in Kentucky that may result in alternative treatments to surgery.

The research team from the University of Louisville, led by Dr. Aviv D. Goldbart, has been studying alternative treatments for childhood sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). The presented their initial findings on work with tonsillar tissue in June of 2004.

As a result of these findings, Dr. Goldbart's team recommended an alternative treatment for mild cases of childhood sleep apnea. In addition, they have also conducted follow-on studies and have experienced encouraging results.

The treatment involves the use of oral montelkast (sold under the brand name of Singulair) which many parents may well recognize as a common form of treatment for asthma.

In many cases of asthma breathing difficulties are caused by inflammation of the tonsils resulting from the presence of leukotriene receptors and Dr Goldbart and his team noticed that these same leukotriene receptors were present in the tonsils of children with sleep apnea. He concluded therefore that the treatment that has proved so effective in cases of asthma should also reduce inflammation and open up the airway in cases of sleep apnea, and it would appear that he is right.

These results are heartening, but there is still additional research that needs to be conducted. This includes further double-blind and placebo-controlled studies. Nevertheless, Dr. Goldbart's findings are indeed encouraging and may well provide an alternative to surgery for many thousands of children in the future.

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