title: Rapid maxillary expansion in children with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome (OSAS).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to evaluate the effects of rapid maxillary expansion (RME) in a group of OSAS preschool children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Lateral cephalograms of 15 OSAS children (8 boys and 7 girls, age mean ± SD: 5.94 ± 1.64 years) were analysed at the start of treatment with RME (T0). All subjects were revaluated after a mean period of 1.57 ± 0.58 years (T1). At this time the sample was divided into 2 groups according to the change in the respiratory disturbance index (RDI): an improved group (I: 8 subjects) and a stationary/worsened group (SW: 7 subjects). Differences between I and SW children with respect to values of cephalometric variables at T0 and to variations between T0 and T1 were evaluated using Mann-Whitney U test. Differences between T0 and T1 values in the overall group of children and separately in I and SW groups were assessed using Wilcoxon test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the start of treatment, the I group was characterised by more retrognathic jaws with lower values of SNA (p=0.055) and SNB (p=0.020) and higher age values (p=0.093) when compared to SW group. After treatment, the I group showed an increase in SNA and SNB angle significantly higher than SW group (p=0.004 and p=0.003, respectively). On the contrary, I and SW groups did not differ as for variation in the skeletal divergency and in the total facial height.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OSAS preschool children with retrognathic jaws could benefit from RME treatment.
authors.affiliation: Dentistry and Orthodontics Unit, NESMOS Department, Sapienza University of Rome, School of Medicine and  Psicology, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ranieri
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chiarotti
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Villa
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Malagola
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002508:Cephalometry; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000473:pathology; D008437:Maxilla / Q000473:pathology; D009295:Nasal Bone / Q000473:pathology; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000473:pathology; D010155:Palatal Expansion Technique; D012119:Respiration; D063173:Retrognathia / Q000628:therapy; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000628:therapy*; D014716:Vertical Dimension