According to statistics, adenoids in children 3-12 years old are quite common. Moreover, ENT doctors testify that this is one of the most common problems that small patients come to them with. Is it dangerous? What do they appear for? How to determine an adenoid in a child? What treatment is required? Is surgical removal of adenoids necessary from the point of view of modern medicine? You will receive comprehensive answers to these and other important questions in the article.
What is it?
Photos, signs of adenoids in children are placed in this article. But what is it? So-called excessively enlarged, overgrown pharyngeal tonsils. If, in addition, they are inflamed, then we can talk about a disease called adenoiditis.
The pharyngeal tonsil itself is a small-sized iron that can be found on the back of the larynx. It is further divided into several parts. This organ is a component of the immune system. Its main task is the reproduction of lymphocytes. That is, cells that protect the human body from viruses, bacteria and other harmful foreign agents.
But when the pharyngeal tonsil grows, it turns from a useful organ into a pathological one, and is a threat to health. Why do many parents seek to learn how to determine adenoids in a child? The fact is that overgrown pharyngeal tonsils are just a typical childhood problem. Moreover, it is quite rare in babies under 2 years old and in adolescents. The peak incidence of adenoiditis occurs in the period from 3 to 12 years. As statistics show, for one thousand children there are 27 suffering from this disease.
Causes
It is important to know how to determine an adenoid in a child. But you need to imagine why children can develop such a pathology. Its main reasons are as follows:
- Frequent colds and infectious diseases that somehow affect the condition of the mucous membrane of the nasopharynx lining. For example, measles, rubella, mononucleosis.
- Bad environmental conditions in the area where the child lives.
- Genetic predisposition. Therefore, parents who in their childhood suffered from this problem must definitely know how to determine the adenoid in a child.
- Tendency to allergies, the presence of bronchial asthma. It is these pathologies that are observed in 65% of children who have been diagnosed with adenoiditis.
- Adverse climatic and microclimatic conditions. Something like: dryness or gas contamination by exhaust air, the presence in it of a large amount of suspended dust. This all leads to drying out of the mucous membranes, which makes them very vulnerable.
Disease development
How to determine adenoids in a child's nose? The best way is to contact an ENT specialist for the slightest alarming symptoms. After all, the disease is constantly progressing and it is dangerous to ignore it.
There are several stages of development of adenoids, each with its own individual characteristics:
- The tonsil has grown slightly. It covers only a certain part of the nasal passage. There are not many specific signs of a problem at this stage. Only a little difficulty breathing in the child, especially at night.
- Adenoids almost double in size and close up to 2/3 of the nasal passage. How to determine adenoids in a child's nose at this stage? They, of course, cannot be seen with the naked eye. The child constantly complains of shortness of breath, suffers from snoring, breathes with his mouth open.
- The tonsil completely covers the nasal lumen. At this stage of the disease, breathing through the nose becomes impossible.
Signs of Enlarged Tonsils
Signs of adenoids in a child at an early stage of the disease are usually nonspecific. Parents sometimes think that children have a common cold or a cold. But there are specific symptoms that in no case can be ignored:
- Difficulty breathing through the nose.
- The child begins to snore in a dream.
- It is difficult for a patient to swallow food. Sometimes he even chokes it while eating.
- A child may complain that a foreign body is in his nose. In this case, when blowing your nose, nothing is detected.
- The voice in children becomes quiet and deaf. All the time, the feeling that they say "in the nose."
- The child periodically or constantly breathes through the mouth.
- You note his constant irritability and chronic fatigue.
Symptoms of adenoiditis
The review presented photos, symptoms and signs of adenoids in children. We know how the enlarged tonsils manifest themselves. Now imagine the symptoms of the stage of the disease when it turns into inflammation - adenoiditis:
- Runny nose, against which conventional drugs are virtually powerless.
- Heat.
- Headache.
- Constant drowsiness.
- General weakness.
- Decreased appetite.
- Complaints of nausea.
- Chronic cough.
- Pain in nose, ears, throat. In some cases, there is a slight hearing loss.
How to recognize
How to determine adenoids in a child at home? Compare his condition with the above symptoms. If they match, there is a reason to immediately make an appointment with an ENT specialist. Only a doctor will be able to determine exactly whether a similar pathology is observed.
How to recognize adenoids in a child? A special examination is needed. In its framework, the pharynx is examined in the mirrors. A special device with a round small mirror (not more than 10 mm) in diameter is used. With its help, they examine the area of the tonsil, starting behind a soft palate.
How to recognize adenoids in a 3 year old child? With the help of this mirror device, which helps to inspect the throat where it will not be wine with the naked eye. Next, the doctor determines the stage of progress of the pathology. Based on observations, he can identify the cause of the disease.
In addition, the mirror device helps to make out the condition of the enlarged tonsil itself. It can be inflamed, covered with mucus, pus, or swollen due to an allergic reaction.
Endoscopic examination
How to recognize adenoids in a 2 year old child? The most recommended method is endoscopic examination. What it is? Inspection using a miniature device with a camera and backlight on the end. It is introduced through the baby’s nose. Everything that the camera shoots is broadcast on the monitor screen. The doctor and parents can immediately see the condition of the adenoids.
Such a procedure is not carried out at the stage of exacerbation of the disease, only during the period of remission, in order to get a more informative and accurate picture. But even during an exacerbation, endoscopy will help determine tonsil hypertrophy, the presence of mucus, swelling or pus on their surface.
To make a more accurate diagnosis, the child after endoscopic examination is sent to a blood test - general and biochemical. This diagnostic measure helps to identify an allergic predisposition or the presence of inflammatory processes.
Recommended Diagnostic Methods
Earlier, among the ENT specialists, the so-called digital examination of adenoids was popular. It went very simply: the doctor placed his fingers in the throat of the child and felt the enlarged tonsils. This made it possible to determine both their size and consistency. What provoked a deep shock, vomiting in young patients.
Of course, such an examination was more informative than the same examination in the mirrors. After all, with palpation, you can determine the degree of pathology, as well as feel the tonsils themselves. If they are soft, then an inflammatory process develops. If they are dense, then this indicates hypertrophy, which can be dealt with only with the help of surgical intervention.
Also previously practiced for diagnosis and radiography. Today, this method is recognized as ineffective. It is fraught with unnecessary radiation exposure of the child. And, besides, it does not always give accurate, relevant results.
With the help of X-ray, in fact, one could only see the shadows of enlarged adenoids. Whether it was hypertrophy, inflammation or edema, it was extremely difficult to find out.
How to treat the disease?
You now know how to determine if a child has adenoids. Of course, the diagnosis is quite difficult for a layman. There is always a risk that you will confuse this serious illness with a cold or a runny nose. Therefore, in no case should you diagnose the child yourself and even more so treat him with over-the-counter medications for adenoiditis!
Perhaps you will achieve some relief. But after a while the symptoms of the disease will return, it will continue to progress. No need to wait for the moment when excessively overgrown adenoids completely block the nasal lumen, and the child will not be able to breathe normally. This is the case when a visit to the doctor cannot be postponed!
How to determine if a child has adenoids? To answer this question, ENT specialists conduct accurate diagnostics: endoscopic examinations, urine and blood tests. In some cases, an x-ray of the nasopharynx is indicated.
The main methods of treating this problem in relation to children are mainly medical, conservative. Especially in the early stages of the development of the disease (1,2-I). Here you can really get rid of adenoids by taking medications and visiting physiotherapeutic procedures. The surgical method is addressed only if conservative treatment did not have any effect.
Conservative therapy
How to determine the degree of adenoids in a child? Refer to the characteristic above - for each stage of the development of pathology, individual symptoms are highlighted. As for the treatment, the most common will be drug therapy.
For the most part, children are prescribed antihistamines, immunomodulators, vitamin supplements, and other drugs that stimulate the body's immune defense. To relieve inflammation and facilitate breathing through the nose, special nasal drops with anti-inflammatory components are used.
Vasoconstrictors are prescribed with caution - they can not be used for more than 3-5 days in a row! In some cases, a good effect is obtained by washing the nasal passages with salted solutions or similar drugs.
As for physiotherapeutic procedures, the following are standardly prescribed:
- Medicinal electrophoresis (with prednisone, potassium iodide, or silver nitrate).
- UHF therapy.
- High-frequency magnetotherapy.
- Mud applications.
- UV treatment.
Of great importance here is breathing exercises. After all, a child, especially with an advanced stage of the disease, gets used to breathing through his mouth. It is very important to develop the habit of nasal breathing in such cases.
In most cases, the whole complex of these methods is enough to get rid of adenoids. But if the disease is in the third stage, the condition of the child does not improve, you have to turn to surgical intervention.
Delete question
Removal of enlarged tonsils is shown only in one case - with obvious, true hypertrophy (i.e., overgrowth of tissues). If they are enlarged due to allergic edema, an inflammatory process, then the removal of adenoids is contraindicated. The only way out is to continue conservative treatment. Removal of inflamed tissues is fraught with the development of a number of complications - infections, deep injuries, active bleeding.
When deciding on the need for surgery, an ENT specialist should give answers to the following questions:
- Were there such formations as mucus and noah on the surface of the tonsil? Did they drain onto the back of the throat?
- What color was the mucous membrane of the adenoids?
- Was the surface of the tonsil soft or folded in nature?
Answers to these questions will help to distinguish precisely hypertrophy of the tonsils from the inflamed area of the tissue or the appearance of an allergic reaction in the form of edema.
If the mucous membrane is bright red, unnaturally pale or cyanotic, this indicates the development of inflammation. A smooth surface also indicates edema and the same inflammation. Hypertrophy of the tonsils gives the presence of a healthy pink mucous membrane, as well as a folded surface typical of the normal state of the tonsil. Only in this situation, if necessary, the child can be assigned to surgery.
Adenotomy
How to determine the size of adenoids in a child? This can be recognized by the difficulty in breathing - the more tonsils have grown, the harder the patient’s breathing. In especially neglected cases, it becomes completely impossible. Here, sometimes the only way out is their surgical removal.
As for the modern stage of development of medicine, adenotomy (removal of overgrown tonsils) is a simple operation that does little trauma to the surrounding tissue. Among the indications for this cardinal treatment method are:
- Inefficiency of both drug and physiotherapy.
- Serious difficulty in nasal breathing.
- Persistent colds and colds caused by overgrown adenoids.
- Frequent otitis media with hearing loss.
But for this operation, there are a number of contraindications:
- The pathological structure of the sky.
- Some blood diseases.
- Oncological diseases (or suspicion of their presence).
- Acute inflammatory processes (first, it is their treatment that is necessary).
- 30 days after any vaccination.
- The age of the child is up to 2 years.
Removal is carried out only in a hospital, under local or general anesthesia. Today, there are several ways to carry out such operations:
- Aspirated. Here the adenoids are removed by a special medical vacuum pump, on which the nozzle is placed.
- Endoscopic. The operation is performed under general anesthesia, since the removal of adenoids is carried out by means of a rigid endoscope. Surgeons can also use a microdebrider. The rehabilitation period after such an operation lasts two weeks.
- Laser The most modern method of operation. Adenoids will be cut off by a laser beam. He also cauterizes blood vessels, which virtually eliminates the risk of bleeding and the spread of infections. The rehabilitation period is significantly reduced here. This operation is the simplest surgical procedure lasting no more than 15 minutes and virtually eliminating possible risks and complications. But it should be carried out only in a specialized clinic.
Adenoids are a pathology that for the most part develops in young patients 3-12 years old. The disease is quite serious - overgrown tonsils can completely block the nasal passages and make normal breathing impossible. How to recognize them? Shortness of breath, snoring at night, frequent runny nose and colds, constantly open mouth in the child, complaints about supposedly objects in the nose should alert the parent. Here it is impossible to postpone a visit to the ENT doctor!