Developing Consensus on Priority Pediatric Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Conditions and Procedures.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop an international expert consensus on priority pediatric otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) conditions and procedures for which all national health systems globally should be capable of managing. STUDY DESIGN: The Delphi method is a multiround online questionnaire and was administered internationally to otolaryngologists with a focus on pediatric populations. This study was administered in parallel to a Delphi survey focusing on adult OHNS conditions amongst adult otolaryngology experts. SETTING: International online survey. METHODS: In round 1, participants listed the top 15 pediatric otolaryngological conditions and top 15 pediatric otolaryngology procedures for their World Bank region. In round 2, participants ranked round 1 responses in order of global importance on a 5-point Likert scale. In round 3, participants reranked conditions and procedures that did not achieve consensus, defined as at least 70% of the round 2 Likert responses being ranked as either "important" or "very important." Descriptive statistics were calculated for each round. RESULTS: The survey was distributed to 35 experts globally, with a 40% (n = 14) response rate. Fifty percent (n = 7) of participants were from low- and middle-income countries, with at least 1 participant from each World Bank region. A list of 28 consensus surgical procedures and 11 consensus conditions were identified. CONCLUSION: This Delphi survey method of world experts in pediatric otolaryngology identified a core list of medical conditions and surgical procedures that should be a part of every national health system's clinical goals of treatment, research, and capacity building.

Feasibility and accuracy of laryngeal ultrasound for the assessment of vocal cord mobility in children.

OBJECTIVE: Transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography has been utilized to document vocal cord mobility in the adult perioperative thyroidectomy setting with variable success. The aims of this study were to assess the feasibility of using transcutaneous ultrasound in vocal cord visualization in children, to determine the accuracy in detecting vocal cord immobility compare to flexible laryngoscopy, and to identify any barriers that may affect its utility. METHODS: This is a prospective blinded-assessor study. Transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasound and flexible laryngoscopy were performed in two pediatric settings: perioperative thyroid surgery and inpatient consultation for airway, voice, or swallowing concerns. The video recordings of ultrasound and laryngoscopy were assessed by two fellowship-trained pediatric otolaryngologists independently. RESULTS: A total of 83 paired laryngoscopy and ultrasound assessments were performed, 39 for perioperative thyroidectomy and 44 for inpatient consultation. The majority had normal vocal cord mobility (65/83, 78%), while 16 had unilateral cord palsy and 2 had bilateral palsy. The vocal cords were successfully visualized on ultrasound in 82/83 (99%) evaluations. Compared to gold standard laryngoscopy, the sensitivity for diagnosing vocal cord palsy on ultrasound was 53-83%, and the specificity was 97-98%. The sensitivity for detecting asymmetric vocal cord movement was 56-88%, and the specificity was 99%. The agreement between ultrasound and laryngoscopy diagnoses were 87-94% (κ = 0.58-0.83, moderate to near perfect agreement). The intra-rater agreement was 95-100% (κ = 0.64-1.0), and inter-rater agreement was 90% (κ = 0.66). Both subjects with bilateral vocal cord palsy had incorrect ultrasound diagnoses by both observers. CONCLUSION: We were able to utilize transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasound to successfully visualize vocal cord mobility in almost all pediatric patients with a high degree of specificity. The modality has limitations in the assessment of bilateral vocal cord palsy, and its sensitivity was observer-dependent.

Delphi Method Consensus on Priority Global Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Conditions and Procedures.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop an international expert consensus on priority otolaryngology-head and neck surgery conditions and procedures globally for which national health systems should be capable of caring. STUDY DESIGN: The Delphi method was employed via a multiround online survey administered to attending otolaryngologists in an international research collaborative of >180 otolaryngologists in >40 countries. SETTING: International online survey. METHODS: In round 1, participants listed the top 15 otolaryngologic conditions and top 15 otolaryngology procedures for their World Bank regions. In round 2, participants ranked round 1 responses in order of global importance on a 5-point Likert scale. In round 3, participants reranked conditions and procedures that did not achieve consensus, defined as 50% of the round 2 Likert responses being ranked as "important" or "very important." Descriptive statistics were calculated for each round. RESULTS: The survey was distributed to 53 experts globally, with a response rate of 38% (n = 20). Fifty percent (n = 10) of participants were from low- and middle-income countries, with at least 1 participant from each World Bank region. Ten consensus surgical procedures and 10 consensus conditions were identified. CONCLUSION: This study identified a list of priority otolaryngology-head and neck surgery conditions and surgical procedures for which all national health systems around the world should be capable of managing. Acute and infectious conditions with preventative and emergent procedures were highlighted. These findings can direct future research and guide international collaborations.

World Health Assembly 73: A Step Forward for Global Surgery.

Member States at this year's World Health Assembly 73 (WHA73), held virtually for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, passed multiple resolutions that must be considered when framing efforts to strengthen surgical systems. Surgery has been a relatively neglected field in the global health landscape due to its nature as a cross-cutting treatment rather than focusing on a specific disease or demographic. However, in recent years, access to essential and emergency surgical, obstetric, and anesthesia care has gained increasing recognition as a vital aspect of global health. The WHA73 Resolutions concern specific conditions, as has been characteristic of global health practice, yet proper care for each highlighted disease is inextricably linked to surgical care. Global surgery advocates must recognize how surgical system strengthening aligns with these strategic priorities in order to ensure that surgical care continues to be integrated into efforts to decrease global health disparities.

Can Head Circumference Be Used as a Proxy for Intracranial Volume in Patients With Craniosynostosis?

BACKGROUND: Calculation of intracranial volume from neuroimaging can be complex and time consuming. In the adult population, there is evidence suggesting that owing to its strong correlation, head circumference (HC) may be used as a surrogate for intracranial volume (ICV). We were interested in studying the correlation between HC and ICV in patients with craniosynostosis. METHODS: After institutional review board approval, a retrospective review was performed on patients with craniosynostosis. GE Healthcare AdW 4.3 volume assessment software was used to calculate ICV and HC based on preoperative computed tomographic scans. Pearson correlation was used to estimate correlation coefficients between ICV and HC for this patient population, with 0 to 0.3 considered a weak correlation, 0.4 to 0.6 considered a moderate correlation, 0.7 to 1 considered a strong correlation, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 196 craniosynostosis patients were included in this study. There were 121 male and 75 female patients. Seventy-nine patients had metopic, 45 had coronal, 64 had sagittal, and 8 had lambdoid synostosis. Mean age was 8.2 months. Mean HC and ICV were 42.9 cm and 829 cm, respectively. Overall, there was a strong correlation between HC and ICV (r = 0.81). Patients were further categorized by craniosynostosis type. Very strong correlation was obtained for patients with coronal (0.89), metopic (0.98), and lambdoid craniosynostosis (0.97). Strong correlation was obtained for patients with sagittal synostosis (0.73). When categorized by sex, a stronger correlation was obtained for female patients (0.84) compared with male patients (0.80). Statistical significance was reached for all reported correlations. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary data suggest that a very strong correlation exists between HC and ICV for male and female patients with all types of craniosynostosis, making HC a useful surrogate for ICV in this patient population.

A Study to Evaluate Change in Ventricular Volume Obtained by Cranial Distraction for Craniosynostosis.

BACKGROUND: The aims of the current analysis were to study the change in ventricular volume (VV) obtained with cranial distraction in patients with craniosynostosis and compare it with the change in total intracranial volume (ICV) and brain volume. METHODS: After institutional review board approval, a retrospective review was performed on patients undergoing cranial distraction over a 5-year period. GE Healthcare AdW 4.3 volume assessment software was utilized to calculate preoperative and postdistraction ICV, VV, and whole-brain volume. Data were also collected on patient demographics, age at the time of distraction, time spent in distraction and consolidation, and length of stay. t Tests were used for comparison. RESULTS: Twenty-three patients met our inclusion criteria. Forty-eight percent of patients (n = 11) had right-sided cranial distraction, 30% (n = 7) had bilateral distraction, and 22% of patients (n = 5) had left-sided distraction. At the preoperative stage, mean head circumference was 42.5 ± 4.7 cm, mean ICV was 810.1 ± 27 cm, mean non-VV (NVV) was 796.2 ± 268 cm, and mean VV was 13.9 ± 9 cm. After a mean of 27.4 mm of distraction, occurring over a mean of 26 days and consolidation period of 149 days, a second computed tomography scan was obtained. Mean postdistraction head circumference was 49.1 ± 3.9 cm, mean ICV was 1074.1 ± 203 cm, mean NVV was 1053.5 ± 197 cm, and VV was 20.6 ± 14 cm. Mean % increase in ICV at this stage was 47.4%; mean % NVV increase was 48.5% as opposed to 60.3% increase in VV. CONCLUSIONS: Cranial distraction is known to effectively increase ICV. Our study suggests that the effect of this volumetric increase is much more pronounced on the VV compared with the brain volume. Further studies are underway to investigate whether this short-term marked increase in VV is sustained over a long-term period.

An LXR-Cholesterol Axis Creates a Metabolic Co-Dependency for Brain Cancers.

Small-molecule inhibitors targeting growth factor receptors have failed to show efficacy for brain cancers, potentially due to their inability to achieve sufficient drug levels in the CNS. Targeting non-oncogene tumor co-dependencies provides an alternative approach, particularly if drugs with high brain penetration can be identified. Here we demonstrate that the highly lethal brain cancer glioblastoma (GBM) is remarkably dependent on cholesterol for survival, rendering these tumors sensitive to Liver X receptor (LXR) agonist-dependent cell death. We show that LXR-623, a clinically viable, highly brain-penetrant LXRα-partial/LXRß-full agonist selectively kills GBM cells in an LXRß- and cholesterol-dependent fashion, causing tumor regression and prolonged survival in mouse models. Thus, a metabolic co-dependency provides a pharmacological means to kill growth factor-activated cancers in the CNS.