What to Expect at Your First Appointment in the Complex Obstructive Sleep Apnea Clinic

If your child has breathing problems while sleeping, your pediatrician may refer you to our center for treatment. You can also contact the Complex Obstructive Sleep Apnea Center directly for a referral.

Your doctor may first refer you to our Sleep Center or Sleep Apnea Clinic for treatment. If your child has complex or difficult-to-treat sleep apnea, we’ll refer you to the Complex Obstructive Sleep Apnea Center.

Once you are referred to the Complex Obstructive Sleep Apnea Center, our nurse care coordinator will collect your child’s health records. This may include previous treatments, tests and sleep studies.

After gathering all of these details, our team will come together for a case conference and discuss your child’s records and history. This process allows us to understand your child’s condition and helps us prepare for your first appointment.

On the Day of Your First Visit

During your first visit, you and your child meet with several members of our team at once. That means you won’t have to coordinate multiple appointments or bring information from one specialist to another. If you live far away and don’t want to travel, we can schedule a telemedicine appointment with the team.

This first appointment may include:

• A dietitian
• An ENT surgeon
• A geneticist
• A pulmonologist
• A plastic surgeon
• A sleep physician

Testing

Our team will ask about your child’s medical and sleep history. We may recommend an overnight sleep study, which records your child’s sleep behaviors. The type of sleep study we recommend will depend on your child’s symptoms. Your child will stay overnight at our Sleep Laboratory for the sleep study.

Your child may need a sleep endoscopy to help with diagnosis. During this test, we’ll insert a thin, hollow tube with a camera (endoscope) into the nose while your child is sleeping. This scope will help us see what may be causing the sleep apnea.

Our team may also recommend a sleep endoscopy or an MRI airway sleep study. An MRI airway sleep study is a unique type of test that records imaging of your child’s throat, nose and mouth while he or she sleeps. There are very few centers in the country that offer this kind of test.

After Your Visit: Treatment and Follow-up

After the exam and testing, the entire team will collaborate on a treatment plan.

If we provide more than one option for treatment, we’ll work with you to figure out the best solution for your child. We’ve also created shared decision-making tools to help families with treatment decisions.

Once we have a treatment plan, we’ll work with you to schedule follow-up appointments as needed. These appointments will depend on your child’s treatment and may include sleep psychologists, dietitians and surgeons. Each approach is different because we tailor everything based on the unique needs of your child and family.

If another doctor referred you to us, our team will communicate with them throughout the treatment process. This will help make sure your home doctor can stay informed about your child’s progress and help manage any follow-up care if needed.

If your family is traveling from out of town, we provide concierge services and other resources. We’ll also try to create an appointment and treatment schedule that reduces your travel time.