Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0037315 (sleep apnea)
 8,000 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Acute autonomic and sensory neuropathy (AASN) is a rare neuropathy characterized by acute autonomic dysfunction and objective sensory disturbances. A 26-year-old pregnant woman with severe autonomic and sensory dysfunction is reported. This patient suddenly developed marked nausea and vomitting in about 2 days after having a sore throat. She then developed signs of autonomic dysfunction including dilated non-reactive pupils, dryness of the eyes and oral mucous membranes, generalized anhidrosis, paralytic ileus, orthostatic hypotension, and continuous tachycardia. She also had severe generalized sensory impairments of all modalities, and all deep tendon reflexes were absent. Sensation was almost totally lost for all modalities below the neck. There was marked pseudoathetosis and sensory ataxia in all extremities. Motor examination was normal. She had inability to urinate. At this time she was 38 weeks pregnant, and when she showed signs of fetal distress, a Caesarean section was performed. Albumino-cytological dissociation was seen in the CSF. Serum noradrenaline was reduced, no sensory nerve action potentials could be elicited, and reduced coefficient of variation of the R-R interval on electrocardiography was observed. Plasma exchange was performed every other day for 3 days for about 3 weeks after the onset of the illness, but no favorable effects. Seven months after the onset, her autonomic dysfunction slightly improved, but there was no recovery from the sensory disturbances. Many symptoms and signs that characterize AASN occurred in this patient, and each was severe. The patient developed SIADH, sleep apnea, personality change, and amenorrhea in the course of the disease. We suggest that AASN patients might have both peripheral and central nervous system manifestations including seizures and personality changes.
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PMID:[A severe case of acute autonomic and sensory neuropathy]. 986 13

The aim of this study was the evaluation of the usefulness of a 7-items questionnaire, Rome Questionnaire (RQ), in identifying adult patients at risk of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS). 136 adults (76 M, 60 F) with snoring were enrolled. Each patient underwent to an overnight polysomnography (PSG) study and the patient's bed partner answered the "RQ". RQ survey items mainly addressed the presence and frequency of snoring behaviour, breathing pauses, sore throat, oral breathing and wake time sleepiness. Of the 136 initial patients, 111 (63 M, 48 F; mean age 54.6 +/- 10.84) with a complete PSG examination were included in the study. They were divided according to apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) into two groups: group A with a primary snoring or mild OSAS (AHI < or = 15) and group B with moderate-severe OSAS (AHI > 15). The RQ final score was 25.27 +/- 16.1 for group A and 42.29 +/- 15.2 for group B, with a statistically significant (p < 0.0001) difference. Analyzing the RQ score of group B (moderate-severe OSAS) we surprisingly noticed that most of patients (66%) showed an high RQ score (> 40). No patients with moderate-severe OSAS showed a RQ score < 20 and for every point scored in the questionnaire there is an extra 1.07 (0.7%) risk of belonging to group B. Group B showed a mean body mass index (BMI) of 31.53 (+/- 4.95), significantly (p < 0.001) higher than BMI of group A (26,86 +/- 3.28) and BMI results a good predictive factor (p = 0.013) of mild-severe OSAS. In conclusion, the "RQ", together with BMI, seems to be an useful tool to make a selection of the patients at higher risk of moderate-severe OSAS, who need a prompt PSG evaluation. Our findings will require further validation in larger sample of subjects.
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PMID:A suitable test for identifying high risk adult patients of moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. 1872 62

The study was carried out in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology NMCTH (n = 20, age 3-54yrs) who presented tonsil problems and underwent tonsillectomy over period of 1 year (2006-2007). Patients who underwent tonsillectomy were selected for study throughout preoperative and two months of postoperative period. Out of 20 patients (8 male andl2 female) 3 patients presented with sleep apnoea syndrome, 8 patients required hospitalization due to odynophagia and high fever and 9 of them suffered from recurrent tonsillitis. Post operative period was uneventful. The commonest presentation was recurrent sore throat and commonest organism isolated on throat swab culture (superficial) was S. aureus (26.0%). Sixty-nine percentage of culture was sterile, most probably because of prior antibiotics use. Only one out of twenty cultures showed a haemolytic streptococcus. According to previous studies carried out, organism obtained from superficial swab may be different from that of from core and there were some differences between children and adults. a haemolytic streptococci was the commonest organism (38.0%) isolated from surface.
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PMID:Patients with tonsil problems at NMCTH--a report. 1955 66

Adenotonsillar disease (adenoiditis and recurrent tonsillitis) is a prevalent otolaryngologic disorder aetiologically based on chronic inflammation triggered by a persistent bacterial infection. These bacteria, mostly Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus sp., and Streptococcus sp., persist predominantly intracellular and within mucosal biofilms. The recurrent or chronic inflammation of the adenoids and faucial tonsils leads to chronic activation of the cell-mediated and humoral immune response, resulting in hypertrophy of the lymphoid tonsillar tissue. This hypertrophic tissue is the cause for the prominent clinical symptoms: obstruction of the upper airways, snoring, and sleep apnea for adenoiditis or sore throat, dysphagia and halitosis for recurrent tonsillitis. Treatment strategies should target the persisting bacteria within their biofilm or intracellular shelter. Macrolide antibiotics like clarithromycin are able to modulate the immune system and to interfere in bacterial signaling within biofilms. Clindamycin, quinupristin-dalfopristin, and oritavancin are intracellular high active compounds. Surgical removal of the hypertrophic tissue by modern procedures like laser tonsil ablation, eliminates not only a mechanical obstacle of the airways, it removes also the basis for the aetiologic cause, the "biofilm carrier". This review summarizes the role of bacterial persistence in mucosal biofilms for the aetiology, diagnosis and treatment of adenotonsillar disease and relevant patents.
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PMID:Adenotonsillar disease. 2245 46

Retropharyngeal abscess (RPA) is the second most common deep neck space infection after peritonsiller abscess in pediatric population. Major signs and symptoms on physical examination include fever, hypersalivation, odynophagia, reduced oral intake, sore throat, swelling on the neck, torticollis, limitation in neck mobility, and voice changes. In this paper, the authors present a case of RPA with unusual and interesting presenting symptoms in a 10-month-old infant that exhibit new-onset and worsening snoring and sleep apnea. The purposes of this manuscript are to present the authors' experience with this patient, to emphasize the diagnosis, clinical course, and management of RPA in infants, also to signify the importance of including RPA in the differential diagnosis of patients with sleep apnea syndrome.
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PMID:Retropharyngeal Abscess Presenting With Sleep Apnea Syndrome. 2832 4

Tonsillectomy is one of the most common paediatric surgical procedures performed in Australasia. The aim of this paper is to provide an up-to-date review of the indications for the procedure (and the evidence base for each of these indications), as well as describe the surgical technique and perioperative management and risks for a non-surgical audience. The primary indications for tonsillectomy are obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) (where it is most commonly performed in association with adenoidectomy) and recurrent pharyngotonsillitis. There is now high-quality evidence that tonsillectomy improves objective measures of OSA on sleep studies, as well as quality of life and child behaviour. The impact of surgery on cognitive function is less well delineated. For recurrent pharyngotonsillitis, tonsillectomy has a modest impact on recurrent sore throat symptoms - clinicians should ensure an appropriate pre-operative observation period and adequately discuss the potential benefits with parents prior to surgery. Traditional approaches to tonsillectomy involve surgically dissecting the entire tonsil from the underlying pharyngeal muscle. Subtotal tonsillectomy (intracapsular tonsillectomy or tonsillotomy) is described for OSA and may reduce perioperative morbidity. Children younger than 3 years and those with moderate to severe OSA or significant comorbidities should be admitted for overnight observation. Simple analgesia is adequate for most patients postoperatively. Codeine is contraindicated due to reports of postoperative death due to respiratory suppression. Overall, tonsillectomy is a well-tolerated procedure, with pain and postoperative haemorrhage (2-4%) being the most common complications. Haemorrhage can be life threatening; however, the mortality rate remains very small at approximately 1:30 000.
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PMID:Current perspectives on the role of tonsillectomy. 2914 1