Lane F. Donnelly, MD Victoria Surdulescu, MD Barbara A. Chini, MD Keith A. Casper, MS Stacy A. Poe, MS Raouf S. Amin, MD Index terms: Magnetic resonance (MR), cine study, 262.121412, 262.121416, 263.121412, 263.121416 Magnetic resonance (MR), in infants and children, 262.121411, 262.121412, 262.121416, 263.121411, 263.121412, 263.121416 Nasopharynx, abnormalities, 262.827, 263.827 Sleep apnea, 262.827, 263.827 Small airways disease, 262.827, 263.827 Published online before print 10.1148/radiol.2271020198 Radiology 2003; 227:239 –245 1 From the Department of Radiology (L.F.D., K.A.C.), Division of Pulmonary Medicine (V.S., B.A.C., R.S.A.), and Department of Pediatrics (L.F.D., V.S., B.A.C., S.A.P., R.S.A.), Children’s Hos- pital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039. Re- ceived March 14, 2002; revision re- quested May 2; final revision received October 3; accepted October 4. Ad- dress correspondence to L.F.D. (e-mail: lane.donnelly@cchmc.org). Author contributions: Guarantor of integrity of entire study, L.F.D.; study concepts, L.F.D., R.S.A.; study design, L.F.D., R.S.A.; literature research, L.F.D.; clinical studies, all au- thors; data acquisition, L.F.D., K.A.C.; data analysis/interpretation, L.F.D.; statistical analysis, S.A.P.; manuscript preparation, L.F.D.; manuscript defini- tion of intellectual content, editing, and revision/review, all authors; manuscript final version approval, L.F.D. © RSNA, 2003 Upper Airway Motion Depicted at Cine MR Imaging Performed during Sleep: Comparison between Young Patients with and Those without Obstructive Sleep Apnea 1 PURPOSE: To compare the patterns of dynamic airway motion depicted on cine magnetic resonance (MR) images obtained during sleep between young patients with and those without obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fast gradient-echo sequences were performed in the sagittal midline by using a 1.5-T unit to create cine MR images. Cine MR images obtained during sleep in 16 young patients with OSA were compared with those obtained in 16 young patients with no airway symptoms of airway disease. The nasopharynx, oropharynx, and hypopharynx were characterized in terms of airway motion as static patent (SP), dynamic patent, intermittent collapsed (IC), or static collapsed (SC); and the maximal diameter and greatest change in diameter (in millimeters) of these airways were calculated. Adenoid tonsil size and mouth posi- tion (ie, opened or closed) were determined. Differences in the frequency of MR imaging parameters in the different anatomic regions were evaluated by using Fisher exact,  2 , and sample t tests. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences in the following parameters between the two groups: nasopharynx SP (P  .001) and IC (P  .001); hypophar- ynx SP (P  .001) and IC (P  .001); and mean change in airway diameter of the nasopharynx (P  .001) and hypopharynx (P  .001). The mean adenoid tonsil size in the patients with OSA was larger (P = .006). CONCLUSION: There are significant differences in the patterns of dynamic airway motion between young patients with and those without OSA. © RSNA, 2003 Obstructive sleep apnea is increasingly being recognized as an important problem in many children (1– 8). Evidence suggests that obstructive sleep apnea in children can be associ- ated with excessive daytime sleepiness, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, poor hearing, physical debilitation, and failure to thrive (1– 6). It is estimated that up to 3% of all children, approximately 2 million in the United States alone, are affected by obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (7,8). In much of the literature addressing the potential uses of imaging in the evaluation of patients with obstructive sleep apnea, the emphasis has been on the evaluation of static anatomic measurements (9 –13). This evaluation includes cephalometrics, in which spe- cific anatomic landmarks identified on radiographs of the skull and airway are used to calculate static measurements that are used to differentiate asymptomatic populations from populations with anatomic factors indicating risk of obstructive sleep apnea (9 –12). Pediatric Imaging 239 R adiology