Long-term follow-up for children treated with surgical intervention for chronic rhinosinusitis

The goal of this study is to retrospectively compare the long-term, 10 year, outcomes of surgical versus medical management of young children with chronic rhinosinusitis.

This is a retrospective, age-matched, cohort outcome study performed at a tertiary-care hospital.

Two groups of young children (2-5 yr old) with chronic rhinosinusitis were treated with endoscopic sinus surgery or medically managed and evaluated 10 years after their initial therapy. Of the 131 eligible patients, 67 could be located and consented to participate in the study. Six symptoms (day cough, night cough, irritability or crankiness, headaches, nasal airway obstruction, and purulent rhinorrhea) were used to assess the outcome of their treatment.

Children undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery had more significant disease as noted on the computed tomography (CT) scans. Their symptom severity, however, was similar. When individual symptoms were compared, there were no statistically significant differences between the surgically and medically managed groups. When the mean was controlled for baseline symptom severity and CT severity, there was statistical improvement in nasal airway obstruction and decreased rhinorrhea. There was a trend toward improvement in cough, but this was not statistically significant. Parenteral assessment of improvement (change) in symptoms (P = .001) and their degree of satisfaction with treatment (P = .005) was significantly higher in the surgically managed group.

Children who have chronic rhinosinusitis improve in their symptoms of nasal airway obstruction and purulent discharge if they undergo surgery. Parents of young children with chronic rhinosinusitis appear to be more satisfied with the outcome of surgical management than medical management when assessed 10 years later.