Pediatric inferior turbinate surgery: A review and meta-analysis of midterm nasal patency.

Abstract

The surgical treatment of children with enlarged inferior turbinates is still controversial. Foundational evidence for indicating turbinoplasty is still scarce, and there is a myriad of proposed techniques. This work aimed to address the midterm nasal obstruction outcomes of pediatric inferior turbinate surgery. A Literature search across PUBMED and Cochrane collaboration databases was undertaken, using the MeSH terms: turbinates, nasal obstruction, surgery, and children. Articles focusing on turbinate surgery with an exclusively pediatric cohort were included. The minimum follow-up time for inclusion was set at four months, and only the latest available follow-up in each study was considered. All the integrated studies used objective instruments to quantify nasal obstruction before and after surgery. A comprehensive review and meta-analysis were performed to assess nasal outcomes after the intervention. The 95% confidence interval of the effect magnitude for each study was calculated to elucidate effect sizes. Seven studies met the inclusion criteria for review, and five were included in the meta-analysis, accounting for a total of 510 patients. The follow-up period ranged from 4 months to 1 year. Pooled results showed that nasal patency was significantly improved after surgery (p<0.001) in the midterm follow-up. No significant differences were found between bone-sparing and bone-removal procedures (p=0.38). This is the first meta-analysis to address midterm results of pediatric turbinate surgery. Our results suggest a positive impact of inferior turbinate surgery on nasal patency, irrespective of technique.