Esophageal foreign bodies causing obstructive sleep apnea in a patient with Sturge-Weber syndrome.

Abstract

We report the case of a severely mentally handicapped 30-year-old woman with Sturge-Weber syndrome who developed obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) following esophageal aspiration of two foreign bodies, which were discovered incidentally during a neck CT scan. Initial polysomnography findings revealed significant OSA with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 40.8 events per hour. Repeat polysomnography following endoscopic removal of the foreign bodies revealed marked improvement of her OSA with a decrease of AHI to 15.6 events per hour. Our report highlights the importance of considering foreign body aspiration as a cause for OSA in mentally handicapped patients.