Pediatric Aerodigestive Center
Children throughout the region can now benefit from our multidisciplinary clinic and procedural services, exclusively designed to provide the best patient-centered care.
At UC Davis Health we know your children deserve world-class care. Children with breathing, swallowing, and/or digestive conditions often see many different medical professionals to meet all their needs. The UC Davis Children’s Hospital can bring those specialists to you, combining quality pediatric care and expertise to understand what makes your little ones unique and create a unified care plan. With pediatric otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat surgery), pulmonology, gastroenterology, general and thoracic surgery, speech pathology, dietary/nutrition, social work, and nurse practitioner specialists, your family will always have an expert team behind them.
In our center we work to meet the needs of each child and their family through:
- Improved access and scheduling
- Improved coordination of care
- Reduce number of procedures, imaging, and anesthesia exposures
- Improved understanding of each family's goals and needs
Examples of conditions treated at our Aerodigestive Center:
Larynx and Trachea Disorders
- Airway obstruction (e.g. laryngeal and tracheal cysts, tumors)
- Laryngeal cleft and webs
- Laryngeal (e.g. glottic, subglottic) and tracheal stenosis
- Laryngomalacia
- Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis
- Stridor / noisy breathing
- Tracheostomy care and management
- Vocal cord paralysis / paresis
Esophageal and Swallowing Disorders
- Achalasia
- Caustic ingestion
- Complex feeding conditions from anatomic & physiologic abnormalities
- Dysphagia and aspiration
- Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE)
- Esophageal atresia, strictures, webs
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
- Tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF)
Pulmonary Disorders
- Bronchopulmonary dysplasia / chronic lung disease
- Bronchiectasis
- Chronic aspiration
- Chronic cough
- Recurrent croup / pneumonia / respiratory infections
- Refractory asthma
- Tracheomalacia and bronchomalacia
Frequently Asked Questions:
Coordinated care:
Some children with complex conditions may already see many or all of the specialties represented on our team, and benefit from a single clinic visit to minimize the amount of travel time and missed work/school for appointments. It is also an opportunity for the specialists to coordinate any procedures that might be necessary to minimize the number of procedures and/or anesthesia exposure.
Challenging diagnoses:
Certain symptoms, such as a chronic cough or dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) can have many different causes, and it may be difficult to determine even which type of specialist to see first. We may be able to save your family time and frustration by seeing multiple specialists at once and deciding together the next best steps.
A “triple scope” may be recommended by your aerodigestive team. In this combination procedure, an otolaryngologist (ENT), pulmonologist, and gastroenterologist will perform their most common “scope” procedures together: laryngoscopy/tracheoscopy, bronchoscopy, and esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). The goal of a “triple scope” is to assess the entire aerodigestive tract, including the larynx (voice box), trachea (windpipe), bronchi (air passages to the lungs), and upper digestive tract (throat, esophagus, stomach, and the first part of the intestines). This may be recommended when concerns exist in all of these areas, or in order to identify the problem area when the diagnosis is unclear. Each of these procedures tend to be short but require general anesthesia; combining the procedures is safe and may reduce the overall number of procedures and anesthesia exposures for your child.
Our goal is to provide your child the best specialty care with the least amount of stress to your family. For combination procedures, you may have a different specialty doctor in order to avoid scheduling conflicts, but we very much want to keep your child with your preferred specialists. Our core team members, representing different areas of expertise, may communicate with your pediatrician or other specialists for the most seamless transition of care both inside and outside UC Davis Health.
Links and Specialty Representatives:
To make an appointment for your child, please call our clinic at 916-734-5400.
As a comprehensive resource center, services are available to referring physicians and surgeons who may request diagnoses, second opinions, treatment options, and/or a definitive treatment plan.
Outside Physician Referral: 800-482-3284