Balloon catheter sinuplasty for chronic rhinosinusitis: feasibility and impact on quality of life

To evaluate the outcome of balloon sinuplasty for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis [CRS] and its impact on patients' symptom and quality of life scoring The study included 35 patients with mean age of 34.1 +/- 4.4 years. All patients underwent complete otorhinolaryngological examination and endoscopic staging according to Lund and Kennedy endoscopic score. CT scans of paranasal sinuses were assessed according to Lund-Mackay scale. All patients underwent symptoms and quality of life assessment using Sino Nasal Outcome Test-20 [SNOT-20]. All patients underwent balloon catheter sinuplasty under guide of fiberoptic nasal endoscope. Patients were assessed at three and six months after dilatation for SNOT-20 score. Intraoperative catheter insertion and advancement was accomplished successfully in 26 patients with a procedural success rate of 92.9% and the other two patients were shifted to FESS and were excluded of follow-up. No intraoperative or postoperative complications were encountered. Intraoperative bleeding was minimal and controllable without the need for nasal packing and all patients were discharged once they were ready for. All patients showed progressive improvement of SNOT-20 scoring that showed significant improvement at 3-months and 6-months follow-up evaluation compared to baseline score with significantly lower scores determined at 6-months compared versus 3-months. Balloon catheter sinuplasty is a feasible, safe and effective therapeutic modality for CRS associated with significant improvement of patients' quality of life and could be managed as one-day surgical procedure

insight on the prevalence of body weight disturbance among children with otitis media with effusion

To evaluate the frequency of variant constitutional parameters among children of primary school age and had otitis media with effusion [OME]. The present study was assigned to include 100 children of primary school age with manifestations of OME and underwent myringotomy and insertion of Grommet's tube for middle ear aeration. All patients underwent preoperative determination of age, gender, weight [kg] and height [cm] and body mass index [BMI]. Obesity was defined according to the percentile of BMI adjusted for age and gender and for comparative purposes; enrolled patients were stratified according to BMI percentile strata within each age-stratum and gender frequencies. The study included 100 patients; 54 males and 46 females with a mean age of 8.7 +/- 1.8; range: 6-12 years and mean BMI of 27.2 +/- 4.5; range: 17.7-35.5 kg/m2. Twenty-six patients had average healthy weight, 20 patients were at risk of being over-weight, 23 patients were over-weight and 31 were obese. Twenty-three of patients aged 6-8 years [57.5%], 17 patients aged >8-10 years [47.5%] and 11 patients older than >10 years [57.2%] were average weight or at risk of being over-weight with non-significant between age strata. Similarly, the percentages of over-weight and obese patients showed nonsignificant difference between age strata. Patients' distribution according to gender showed significantly higher percentage of females in obese patients compared to those had average weight or at risk of being over-weight and non-significantly compared to over-weight patients. Average weight patients showed higher percentage of males that was significant compared to over-weight patients and non-significant compared to those at risk of being over-weight. There is a relationship between obesity and OME in children of primary school age and this was age or sex-independent and could be attributed to obesity-associated disturbed immune milieu or to affection of taste sensation