Pediatric Aerodigestive Center
Coordinated Care for Children with Complex Airway, Breathing, Feeding and Digestive Conditions
Children who have trouble breathing, swallowing, feeding or growing often have conditions that affect more than one part of the body. The Pediatric Aerodigestive Center brings specialists together to diagnose and treat these complex problems in a coordinated, family-centered way.
Our aerodigestive team cares for infants, children and adolescents with conditions involving the airway, lungs and upper digestive tract. By combining expertise from multiple pediatric specialties, improve communication among providers and create a clear care plan tailored to your child’s needs.
What Is Aerodigestive Care?
“Aerodigestive” refers to the parts of the body involved in breathing and swallowing, including the airway, lungs, esophagus and stomach. Many children with aerodigestive disorders experience overlapping symptoms, such as noisy breathing, chronic cough, feeding difficulties, reflux or recurrent lung infections.
Children in our Pediatric Aerodigestive Center are evaluated by a team that works together to understand the full picture of your child’s health and determine the most effective treatment plan.
Conditions We Treat
Our Pediatric Aerodigestive Center evaluates and treats a wide range of airway, pulmonary, digestive and feeding disorders, including:
- Aspiration (choking when eating or drinking)
- Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
- Chronic cough
- Congenital tracheoesophageal fistula (TE fistula)
- Dysphagia (problems swallowing)
- Feeding disorders
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
- Gastrostomy management
- Laryngeal clefts
- Laryngeal stenosis
- Laryngomalacia
- Noisy breathing
- Sialorrhea (drooling)
- Sleep-disordered breathing
- Stridor
- Subglottic stenosis
- Tracheal stenosis
- Tracheomalacia
- Tracheostomy management
- Persistent wheezing
- Pharyngeal cleft
- Recurrent croup
- Recurrent pneumonia
- Vocal cord paralysis and vocal cord disorders
Services We Provide
We offer comprehensive diagnostic testing, medical management and coordinated specialty care, including:
- Bronchoscopy
- Clinical feeding and swallowing evaluation
- Coordinated outpatient diagnostic laryngoscopy, bronchoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)
- Direct laryngoscopy and bronchoscopy
- Esophagogastroduodenoscopy with biopsy (upper endoscopy)
- Esophageal manometry
- Flexible bronchoscopy
- Flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy
- Multidisciplinary aerodigestive clinics
- Modified barium swallow studies (MBSS)
- Nutrition evaluation
- Pediatric anesthesia services
- pH impedance studies
- Pulmonary function tests
- Sleep studies
When possible, diagnostic procedures that require anesthesia are carefully coordinated to minimize the number of times your child needs sedation.
A Team-Based Approach, Centered on Your Child
Your child’s care is guided by a multidisciplinary pediatric team that may include:
- Pediatric gastroenterologists
- Pediatric pulmonologists
- Pediatric otolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat/ENT specialists)
- Speech-language pathologists and feeding specialists
- Dietitians and nutrition specialists
- Pediatric anesthesiologists
- Nurse coordinators and support staff
After evaluations and testing are complete, the team meets to review findings together and develop a unified treatment plan. This plan may include medical therapy, nutrition and feeding support, additional testing, surgical options when appropriate, or careful monitoring as your child grows.
Convenient Access Across RWJBarnabas Health
Aerodigestive services are available at multiple locations across our health system, making it easier for families to access coordinated pediatric specialty care close to home. Care is provided through:
- Pediatric Aerodigestive Center at The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
- Pediatric Aerodigestive Center at McMullen Children’s Center at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center
- Pediatric Aerodigestive Center at Children’s Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
- Pediatric Feeding and related specialty programs across the system
Our program also collaborates closely with Rutgers Health, whose Pediatric Aerodigestive Program offers the same integrated, multidisciplinary services and shares a commitment to clinical excellence, education and research.
When to Consider an Aerodigestive Evaluation
Your child may benefit from aerodigestive care if they have ongoing problems with breathing, swallowing, feeding or growth that have not improved with standard treatment — or if multiple specialists are already involved in their care.
Early evaluation and coordinated management can help reduce symptoms, prevent complications, and improve your child’s quality of life.
Make an Appointment
If you believe your child may benefit from care at the Pediatric Aerodigestive Center, talk with your pediatrician or specialist about a referral or contact us to be connected to one of our aerodigestive program locations for an evaluation.
Our team is here to partner with you and support your child’s health — every step of the way.