Endoscopic ear surgery in children with down syndrome

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Pediatric Surgery
• Genetics

Background:

• Children with Down syndrome (DS) frequently experience chronic middle ear disease.
• Surgical management is complicated by disease severity and narrow ear canals.
• Endoscopic ear surgery offers improved visualization and avoids external incisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the outcomes of endoscopic versus microscopic ear surgery in children with Down syndrome.
• To evaluate the safety and efficacy of endoscopic techniques in this population.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of tympanoplasty cases in children with DS (2012-2018).
• Comparison of outcomes between microscopic visualization (MV) and endoscopic ear surgery (EES) groups.
• Recorded data included residual perforation rates, hearing outcomes, and surgical time.

Main Results:

• 37 surgeries in 26 patients were analyzed (14 MV, 17 EES).
• Endoscopic ear surgery (EES) showed a trend towards higher residual perforation rates when using specific grafts.
• Both methods had similar surgical times and hearing improvements, with EES avoiding post-auricular incisions in most cases.

Conclusions:

• Endoscopic and microscopic ear surgery demonstrate comparable outcomes in children with DS.
• Endoscopic surgery offers the advantage of potentially avoiding post-auricular incisions.
• Further research may be needed to optimize graft choices in EES for DS patients.