Distraction Osteogenesis for Management of Severe OSA in Pierre Robin Sequence: An Approach to Elude Tracheostomy in Infants.
BACKGROUND
Severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a life threatening condition associated with Pierre Robin sequence (PRS) due to mandibular micrognathia and glossoptosis. Often these patients require tracheostomy at an early age which has high morbidity. Distraction osteogenesis (DO) is an accepted method of treatment for patients with hypoplastic mandible to achieve mandibular lengthening without need for a bone graft. It has also been used in respiratory distressed neonates and infants to avoid tracheostomy.


METHODS
An eight month old baby, a diagnosed case of PRS with severe OSA and recurrent episodes of aspiration pneumonia and on nasogastric tube feeding since birth was referred to us for evaluation and possibility of therapeutic augmentation of the mandible by DO. After a thorough clinico-radiological assessment the child was operated for bilateral extraoral placement of horizontal corpus distractor. A total distraction of 12 mm was carried out and consolidation of callus was monitored by USG. Postoperatively the patient was followed up for 12 months. Presently she has normal respiratory and feeding function without any episode of aspiration pneumonia.


CONCLUSIONS
Mandibular corpus DO is a safe and effective technique that can be applied to predictably relieve severe upper airway obstruction in selected PRS cases. In order to avoid the limitations of alternative surgical procedures and the tracheostomy-associated morbidity, DO should be considered among the routine treatment modalities.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, CMDC (WC), Chandimandir, Haryana 134107 India.
N K
NK
Sahoo
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, CMDC (SC), Pune, 411040 India.
I D
ID
Roy
Department of Pediatrics, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, 411040 India.
Shamsher
S
Dalal
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, 411040 India.
Amit
A
Bhandari
Distraction osteogenesis (DO); Micrognathia; Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA); Pierre Robin sequence (PRS)