Cerebral oxygenation in children with sleep-disordered breathing.

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is associated with neurocognitive and behavioral dysfunction, and structural brain abnormalities. Near infrared spectroscopy allows a continuous and non-invasive monitoring of brain tissue oxygenation, giving insight in some pathophysiological mechanisms potentially associated with SDB-related neurocognitive dysfunction. The present review summarizes the finding of studies describing brain tissue oxygenation in adults and children with SDB. Contrary to adults, mean nocturnal tissue oxygenation index (TOI) during sleep does not seem to be different in children with SDB as compared to healthy controls. During respiratory events such as apnoeas and hypopnoeas, the decrease in TOI precedes the peripheral, systemic desaturation. The decrease in TOI has been shown to be greater during apnoeas as compared to hypopnoeas, during rapid-eye movement sleep as compared to other sleep stages, in younger children as compared to their older counterparts, and in those with a high apnoea-hypopnoea index as compared with a low apnoea-hypopnoea index. Studies analyzing the association between repetitive changes in TOI and neurocognitive and behavioral dysfunction may help to decipher the pathophysiology of neurocognitive dysfunction associated with SDB in children.