Tonsil News and Research

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Link between children's sleep-related breathing problems and daytime behavior problems

Hyperactivity, attention deficit, sleepiness, and ADHD often improved - whether or not sleep studies showed sleep apnea before surgery.

4 Apr 2006

New evidence questions the simple link between prion proteins and vCJD

While newly published research confirms that under laboratory circumstances prion-protein can be absorbed across the gut, it also shows that this is unlikely to occur in real life.

30 Mar 2006

Wearing a special mask to bed helps children with sleep apnea breathe and sleep better

Wearing a special mask to bed helps children with sleep apnea breathe and sleep better, but a small, six-month study at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and two other pediatric hospitals suggests children aren't always using them consistently enough to reap the maximum benefits.

15 Mar 2006

Study - Increases in weight after adenotonsillectomy in overweight children with obstructive sleep-disorder

A study by a University at Buffalo pediatric researcher investigating the causes of weight gain in children after they have their tonsils and adenoids removed to treat sleep-disordered breathing has shown that removing these tissues results in less fidgeting and other non-exercise motor activity.

1 Mar 2006

Treatment method improves survival for advanced laryngeal cancer

Chemotherapy and radiation can be effective at treating cancer of the larynx, or voice box, without removing the organ that controls speech and swallowing. But it doesn't work for everyone.

13 Feb 2006

Growth hormone helps children with sleep apnea

Growth hormone helps hundreds of children with a rare disorder that causes them to gorge on food, but for some, starting treatment can worsen a dangerous nighttime breathing problem, University of Florida researchers have found.

18 Jan 2006

Toddlers with sleep apnea experience more respiratory disturbances when they sleep on their backs

Researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston have discovered that toddlers with sleep apnea experience more respiratory disturbances when they sleep on their backs than in other positions.

7 Dec 2005

Sleeping on back affects sleep apnea among young children

Children aged three and younger who have a sleeping disorder known as sleep apnea show more respiratory disturbance when they sleep on their backs, according to a study in the November issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery.

21 Nov 2005

Tonsils reveal information that helps understand lupus

By snipping out and analyzing tiny samples of patients' tonsils, scientists have identified a key cellular checkpoint that is somehow bypassed in lupus patients, where harmful immune cells that normally are squelched by the body are mistakenly granted access.

9 Oct 2005

Discovery of mechanism in the body that could lead to autoimmune diseases

Researchers at National Jewish Medical and Research Center have discovered a mechanism in the body that could lead to autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or diabetes.

3 Oct 2005

No intervention is necessary for most children with fluid in their ears

A Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh study finds that prompt insertion of tympanostomy tubes (small ear tubes) does not improve developmental outcomes of children at 6 years of age as once thought.

24 Aug 2005

New surgical cleaning process reduces risk of vCJD

Scientists say a new cleaning process will reduce the risk of hospital transmission of the human form of mad cow disease.

4 Aug 2005

Three cases of mad cow disease in UK from donated blood

Health officials in the UK are warning blood donors that three patients developed the human form of mad cow disease after receiving blood from a possible one hundred people, some of whom are suspected of carrying the deadly agent.

21 Jul 2005

Children who snore are far more likely to suffer hyperactivity disorders

Several years ago, University of Michigan researchers published some of the strongest evidence yet that children who snore when they sleep are far more likely to have attention and hyperactivity problems than their non-snoring peers.

4 Jul 2005

Adolescents who are lethargic, cranky and forgetful may have chronic sleep deprivation

Adolescents who are lethargic, cranky and forgetful may have a common ailment: chronic sleep deprivation. But some tired teens may actually have a medical condition such as depression, insomnia, narcolepsy or sleep apnea, warns a new report in Pediatrics.

6 Jun 2005

Nutrition gene key in regulating immune system

A gene that signals a yeast cell to make bread rise and mice to eat a better diet also helps selectively silence the immune system, researchers have found.

18 May 2005

Tonsil swabbing is terrible - it makes people gag

Mayo Clinic ear, nose and throat surgeons hoped to find a more user-friendly test for strep throat than swabbing the tonsils directly, but instead discovered that the swab has to touch the tonsils to accurately detect the infection.

15 May 2005

NSAIDs okay for tonsillectomy, new study finds

When children have their tonsils removed, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can be used for pain relief with no significant increase in bleeding and with less nausea and vomiting, according to a systematic review of current evidence.

19 Apr 2005

Surgery for children with sleep apnea improves quality of life

Children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have improvements in their quality of life as well as their sleep disorder after surgical removal of the tonsils and adenoid tissue, according to an article in the April issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

19 Apr 2005

Parents drugs, alcohol and tobacco use harm their children's futures

A white paper - Family Matters: Substance Abuse and the American Family - released by The National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, says parents who use illegal drugs, abuse alcohol and use tobacco put half the nation's children - more than 35 million of them - at greater risk of substance abuse and of physical and mental illnesses.

30 Mar 2005