OBJECTIVE To establish cephalometric norms for the upper airway of 12-year-old Chinese children, and to assess these norms with regard to gender, age, ethnicity and other craniofacial structures. METHODS Lateral cephalograms were obtained from a random sample of 425 12-year-old Chinese children (224 boys and 201 girls) to establish the Chinese norms, and from a matched group of 108 12-year-ol...

Schwartz AR, Patil SP, Squier S, Schneider H, Kirkness JP, Smith PL. Obesity and upper airway control during sleep. J Appl Physiol 108: 430–435, 2010. First published October 29, 2009; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00919.2009.—Mechanisms linking obesity with upper airway dysfunction in obstructive sleep apnea are reviewed. Obstructive sleep apnea is due to alterations in upper airway anatomy and neu...

This review presents the evidence that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with significant sinonasal symptoms, inflammation and airway obstruction. Upper airway symptoms in COPD cause impairment to quality of life. The severity of upper airway involvement relates to that present in the lower airway, suggesting that the nose may be used to model the lung in COPD. More imp...

Allergic rhinitis, nonallergic rhinitis, and chronic rhinosinusitis are multifactorial upper airway diseases with high prevalence. Several genetic and environmental factors are proposed to predispose to the pathogenesis of the inflammatory upper airway diseases. Still, the molecular mechanisms leading toward the onset and progression of upper airway diseases are largely unknown. The upper airwa...

In an effort to reduce the complications related to invasive ventilation, the use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has increased over the last years in patients with acute respiratory failure. However, failure rates for NIV remain high in specific patient categories. Several studies have identified factors that contribute to NIV failure, including low experience of the medical team and patient-...

The causes of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are multifactorial. Neural injury affecting the upper airway muscles due to repetitive exposure to intermittent hypoxia and/or mechanical strain resulting from snoring and recurrent upper airway closure have been proposed to contribute to OSA disease progression. Multiple studies have demonstrated altered sensory and motor function in patients with OS...

Upper and lower respiratory infections are encountered commonly in the emergency department. Visits resulting from occurrences of respiratory disease account for 10% of all pediatric emergency department visits and 20% of all pediatric hospital admissions. Causes of upper airway infections include croup, epiglottitis, retropharyngeal abscess, cellulitis, pharyngitis, and peritonsillar abscesses...

Children snore less than adults and have fewer obstructive apneas, suggesting a less collapsible upper airway. We therefore hypothesized that the compensatory upper airway responses to subatmospheric pressure loading decrease with age because of changes in upper airway structure and ventilatory drive. We measured upper airway upstream pressure-flow relationships during sleep in 20 nonsnoring, n...

background nasal septal deviation (nsd) can cause upper airway obstruction, which results in hypoxia and therefore, pulmonary vasoconstriction, ventricular hypertrophy and right-sided heart failure. objectives the aim of this study is to determine the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mpap) of the patients with nsd and the effect of septoplasty on pulmonary arterial pressure. patients and metho...

A cardiorespiratory model incorporating control of the human upper airway during sleep is described. Most previous models have not considered the possibility that the upper airway could be a limiting factor for gas exchange. Our model was developed to predict also certain pathophysiological phenomena in the cardiorespiratory system that characterize heavy snoring or sleep apnea. We started by a...