'Floppy epiglottis' causing hypoxia
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'Floppy epiglottis' causing hypoxia

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Posted by Zachary's Mom on November 17, 2011 at 14:08:53:

After many years of concern about my ten-year-old child's behavior (and dark circles under his eyes), we had a sleep study performed and it was found that he had sleep apnea. We also learned that during 90% of his sleep time, he experienced hypoxia (reduced flow of oxygen). We then had an endoscopy done and it was determined that his tonsils and adenoids were not the cause of the airflow obstruction. After that, we had a sleep endoscopy done and the surgeon discovered that my son has a 'floppy epiglottis.' His epiglottis covers his airway during sleep! The surgeon said our treatment options were to 1) do nothing, 2) use CPAP, or 3) have an epiglottopexy (The surgeon explained that he scores the epiglottis, causing scar tissue to form, which changes the geometry of the epiglottis. The result is that the epiglottis no longer flops over during sleep.)

We have many questions, but here are two of the major ones:

We have read that the positive air pressure from the CPAP will just flatten the epiglottis down, causing an even worse obstruction. We are wondering if this is true or if anyone out there has experienced this.

Does anybody out there know about the epiglottopexy procedure? If so, what is the recovery like? We are not eager to have surgery on our son but his behavior is an issue. Have any of you seen positive results from a surgery involving the epiglottis?

We are in the information gathering stage and there's not a lot out there about this issue. Any information you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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