Enlarged adenoids

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Throat anatomy

Enlarged adenoids

Definition:

The adenoids are lymphatic tissue in the back of the nose, similar to the tonsils. If the adenoids become enlarged, it can cause cause mouth breathing, snoring, bad breath, and chronic runny nose. It can also cause health-threatening conditions such as sleep apnea, pulmonary hypertension, and right-sided heart failure.

Alternative Names:

Adenoids - enlarged

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Enlargement of the adenoids may occur naturally (beginning during fetal development), or it may be caused by long-term inflammation.

Review Date: 1/23/2005
Reviewed By: Kevin Fung, M.D., FRCS(C), Department of Otolaryngology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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