ABSTRACT
Children can have many of the same causes of nasal pathology as an adult, including allergic rhinitis, nasal polyposis, chronic sinusitis, and benign or malignant tumors. However, this chapter focuses on pathologies that are likely to present in childhood. Many congenital lesions appear early in childhood. The neonate is an obligate nasal breather. As such, congenital lesions of the
nose may result in life-threatening airway obstruction and/or difficulty with feeding during this period. Additional symptoms include “cyclical cyanosis,” characterized by awake periods of agitation or crying during which the neonate may mouth breath and appear stable but followed by periods of calm or sleep where nasal breathing is not possible and apnea and cyanosis occur. Congenital lesions with less severe obstruction can often present later in childhood.
