Dubai Pediatric Clinic - Enlarged Adenoids

• Adenoids are patches of tissue that sit at the very back of the nasal passage and help keep the body healthy by trapping harmful bacteria and viruses that you breathe in or swallow and aren’t directly visible.
• Adenoids do important work as infection fighter for babies and young children but they become less important once the child gets older.
• In kids, adenoids usually begin to shrink after about 5 years of age and disappear by 10 years. Adenoids trap germs thus adenoids sometimes temporarily swell. The swelling sometimes gets better, but sometimes it can get severely infected and become enlarged which causes an obstruction of nasal airways that leads to dentofacial anomaly (adenoid facies).

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

The enlarged adenoids cause obstruction of the nasal airway so breathing through the nose requires an uncomfortable amount of work and these babies breathe from their mouth.

• Talking as if the nostrils are pinched.
• Noisy breathing
• Snoring
• Sleep apnea (stops breathing a few seconds during sleep)
• Frequent sinus symptoms
• Ongoing middle ear infections or middle ear fluid.

DIAGNOSIS

• X-ray of the soft tissue of the neck (lateral view) will show the size of adenoids and the degree of airway obstruction.

WHEN IS SURGERY NECESSARY?

Surgery is recommended if your child has:

• Difficulty breathing
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Frequent sinus infection
• Ear infection, middle ear fluid, and hearing loss.

MEDICAL THERAPY

No good evidence supports any curative medical therapy for chronic infection of the adenoids. Some studies indicate a benefit of topical nasal steroids.fracture, kids vaccination, kids diseases, pediatrics consultation

Dubai Pediatric Clinic at Dr Rami Hamed Center provides one of the leading pediatricians in Dubai.