Down syndrome apnea - sleep study 3

Six months after tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) my son was still having mild apnea (see second sleep study here). With our ENT doctor, we decided to wait and monitor apnea. Here we go again, third sleep study one year after the last study, and 18 months after the T&A.

We had our third sleep study in February 2013.

So, the results of our third sleep study. Not so mild anymore. Apnea-hypopnea index went up again from  2.7  to 6.3 per hour. The good news - normal REM, normal sleep pattern, baseline oxygenation above 90% at all times. We were told there is a good chance the adenoids have grown back - we have to go to the ENT to check for this. Meanwhile we need to do something about the apnea. Apparently we can still get away with refusing CPAP (the apnea is still considered mild), but we were offered either nasal steroids (Flonase) or some asthma medication (Singulair). None of the choices are great - Flonase may affect growth, Singulair may affect behaviour. I happen to take Flonase on a regular bases for my chronic rhinitis, so we were slightly more comfortable with using Flonase. We've been using Flonase for a month now. As I mentioned, my son's apnea is pretty asymptomatic so we don't see a lot of changes. But he sleeps well, definitely better than before the T&A.

Total Recording Time (TRT):   486.6min.

Total Sleep Time (TST):          426.0min.

Sleep Efficiency Index (TST/TRT): 87.6 %

Sleep Latency:     48.5min.

REM Latency:     195.5min

Wake after Sleep Onset: 11.0min

Total Arousals: 169

Arousal Index: 23.8/hour

Sleep Stages

Stage 1 Minutes   32.0 %TST    7.5     Normal %TST 5-10

Stage 2 Minutes 170.0 %TST 39.9     Normal %TST 45-55

Stage 3,4 Minutes   126.5     %TST    29.7     Normal %TST 10-15

Stage REM Minutes   97.5.0 %TST    22.9     Normal %TST 20-25

Respiratory Events

Obstructive Apnea number 1

Obstructive Hypopnea number 44

Mixed Apnea number 1

Central Apnea number 7

Apnea-Hypopnea Index : 6.3/hour