title: Persistent rhinosinusitis in children after endoscopic sinus surgery.
abstract: The efficacy of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) in children is insufficiently addressed in the medical literature. We report a cohort of 14 children (mean age 7.7 years, median age 5.1 years) seen at our multidisciplinary clinic for refractory rhinosinusitis during a 30-month period who continued to have rhinosinusitis despite previous ESS. Prior ESS procedures were performed by 11 surgeons in 3 states. The first ESS was performed when the children were a mean age of 4.6 years, and in 10 of 14, it was performed when they were younger than 4.8 years. This cohort required a disproportionately high rate of subsequent surgical intervention, 50%, versus a 9% surgical rate in the remaining clinic population (P = 0.0002). Osteomeatal scarring was the single most difficult surgical complication. Significant morbidity, in the form of persistent disease, is encountered after ESS in young children. Although chronic rhinosinusitis after ESS, to a certain degree, can still be managed by medical therapy, judicial use of ESS, especially in the very young, is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Children's Hospital, Denver 80218, USA.
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Winslow
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Abzug
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004724:Endoscopy; D015521:Ethmoid Sinusitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015523:Maxillary Sinusitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D012086:Reoperation; D012220:Rhinitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed