Adeno-tonsillar hypertrophy as a cause of sleep apnoea syndrome.

Pulmonary hypertension with severe congestive cardiac failure in children secondary to adenotonsillar enlargement was first reported in the Journal of Paediatrics in 1968. Seven years later Simmons I reported the finding of chronic hypersomnolence and periodic sleep apnoea in patients with upper airway obstruction. Subsequently through the work of Guilleminault 2 and others the obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome in children was identified. Rowe, 3 reported nine patients with a sleep apnoea syndrome of whom three had adreno-tonsillar hypertrophy.