Office-Based Balloon Sinus Dilation: 1-Year Follow-up of a Prospective, Multicenter Study.

OBJECTIVE: Balloon sinus dilation (BSD) instruments afford the opportunity for office-based sinus procedures in properly selected patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). This study evaluated patient-reported outcomes 1 year after office-based BSD. METHODS: Adult patients with medically refractory CRS were prospectively enrolled into a multicenter, single-arm study and treated with office-based BSD under local anesthesia. Follow-up on 203 patients was conducted at 2, 8, and 24 weeks postsurgery using validated outcome measures for quality of life (SNOT-20) and computed tomography imaging (Lund-Mackay score). After 24 weeks, patients were re-enrolled for 1-year follow-up to evaluate changes in SNOT-20 scores and revisions. RESULTS: All patients who re-enrolled (n = 122) completed the study, with an average follow-up of 1.4 years. Neither preoperative SNOT-20 nor Lund-Mackay CT scores were predictive of re-enrollment and return for follow-up. Compared to baseline, improvements in SNOT-20 scores remained statistically significant (P < .001) and clinically meaningful (mean decrease ≥ 0.8). In patients followed to 1.4 years, 9 of 122 (7.4%) had revision surgery. CONCLUSION: Following office-based BSD, significant improvements in quality of life observed at 24 weeks were maintained 1 year postsurgery. These extended results provide further evidence of office-based BSD as an effective, minimally invasive procedure for appropriately selected patients with CRS.

Voltage-gated Ca2+ channel Ca(V)1.3 subunit expressed in the hair cell epithelium of the sacculus of the trout Oncorhynchus mykiss: cloning and comparison across vertebrate classes.

Full-length sequence (>6.5 kb) has been determined for the Ca(V)1.3 pore-forming subunit of the voltage-gated Ca(2+) channel from the saccular hair cells of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Primary structure was obtained from overlapping PCR and cloned fragments, amplified by primers based on teleost, avian, and mammalian sources. Trout saccular Ca(V)1.3 was localized to hair cells, as evidenced by its isolation from an epithelial layer in which the hair cell is the only intact cell type. The predicted amino acid sequence of the trout hair cell Ca(V)1.3 is approximately 70% identical to the sequences of avian and mammalian Ca(V)1.3 subunits and shows L-type characteristics. The trout hair cell Ca(V)1.3 expresses a 26-aa insert in the I-II cytoplasmic loop (exon 9a) and a 10-aa insert in the IVS2-IVS3 cytoplasmic loop (exon 30a), neither of which is appreciably represented in trout brain. The exon 9a insert also occurs in hair cell organs of chick and rat, and appears as an exon in human genomic Ca(V)1.3 sequence (but not in the Ca(V)1.3 coding sequence expressed in human brain or pancreas). The exon 30a insert, although expressed in hair cells of chick as well as trout, does not appear in comparable rat or human tissues. Further, the IIIS2 region shows a splice choice (exon 22a) that is associated with the hair cell organs of trout, chick, and rat, but is not found in human genomic sequence. The elucidation of the primary structure of the voltage-gated Ca(2+) channel Ca(V)1.3 subunit from hair cells of the teleost, representing the lowest of the vertebrate classes, suggests a generality of sensory mechanism for Ca(V)1.3 across hair cell systems. In particular, the exon 9a insert of this channel appears to be the molecular feature most consistently associated with hair cells from fish to mammal, consonant with the hypothesis that the latter region may be a signature for the hair cell.

Voice and deglutition functions after the supracricoid and total laryngectomy procedures for advanced stage laryngeal carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: This investigation compared speech and deglutition functions after alternative surgical treatments for advanced stage laryngeal carcinoma: the supracricoid laryngectomy (SCL) versus the total laryngectomy (TL). Study design and setting Cohort investigation at Wayne State University School of Medicine. METHODS: Quantitative studies of laryngeal biomechanics, acoustic and speech aerodynamic features, and deglutition skills of these individuals were coupled to listener and patient self-impressions of speech and voice characteristics for group comparative analyses. RESULTS: Results revealed that patients from each subgroup performed comparably relative to speech intelligibility and voice quality disturbances. Videostroboscopy of the neoglottal mechanisms in these two populations helped to explain these outcomes. Acoustic and speech aerodynamic testing demonstrated variably abnormal features in both surgical subgroups. Whereas the SCL patients eventually achieved full oral diets, they required many sessions of swallowing therapy to obtain this objective and eliminate tube feeding supplementation. The TL patients did not evidence protracted swallowing difficulties or the need for specific exercises in order to remove their feeding tubes postoperatively. References to organ preservation strategies in lieu of surgical management are included for completeness purposes. CONCLUSIONS: The SCL and TL surgical procedures for advanced stage laryngeal carcinoma resulted in equivalent speech and swallowing functional outcomes.

Imaging for headache: what the otolaryngologist looks for.

Diagnosing a rhinogenic cause of headache or facial pain outside of the classic definitions of chronic, acute, and subacute sinusitis can be challenging for the practicing otolaryngologist. Contact-point headaches have been clinically characterized as causing facial pain secondary to abutting mucosal contact from the lateral nasal wall to the septum. Imaging landmarks may help identify these potential contact points radiographically through revealing anatomic variants such as septal spurs and abnormally large lateral nasal structures. However, other potential rhinologic sources, such as barosinusitis, recurrent barotrauma, or recurrent acute sinusitis occurring between active episodes, are challenging to identify through hallmark imaging findings.

Office-based balloon sinus dilation: a prospective, multicenter study of 203 patients.

BACKGROUND: Balloon sinus dilation (BSD) is an increasingly used tool in endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). The tissue-sparing nature of the instrumentation allows for properly selected patients to undergo office-based procedures under local anesthesia. METHODS: This was an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved, prospective, 14-center trial. Patients (n = 203) requiring ESS for medically refractory chronic sinusitis underwent transnasal BSD treatment in an office setting under local anesthesia. Safety, tolerability, technical success, clinical efficacy (20-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test [SNOT-20]), and radiographic outcome (Lund-Mackay [LMK] score) of ESS with BSD in the office setting were assessed. Subjects were followed at 2, 8, and 24 weeks. RESULTS: A total of 552 sinuses were dilated in 203 patients: 47.6% maxillaries, 45.5% frontals, and 6.9% sphenoids. Seventy-seven patients were revisions of prior ESS. The mean number of sinuses dilated per subject was 2.7. Technical dilation success was 93.3%, 90.5%, and 93.7% for maxillary, sphenoid, and frontal sinuses, respectively. SNOT-20 and LMK computed tomography (CT) scoring showed statistically significant improvement at 24 weeks (p < 0.0001) and clinically significant improvement in quality of life. The procedure was reported as tolerable or highly tolerable by 82.3% of patients. There were 0.15 postoperative debridements per patient and the majority returned to normal activity within 48 hours. One (0.5%) procedure-related adverse event related to periorbital swelling was reported, which spontaneously resolved shortly after the procedure without further sequelae. CONCLUSION: Performance of ESS with BSD in the office under local anesthesia is feasible, well-tolerated, safe, and effective. Twenty-four week follow-up demonstrates clinical and statistical improvement in patient quality of life and radiographic outcomes.

Safety and outcomes following hybrid balloon and balloon-only procedures using a multifunction, multisinus balloon dilation tool.

BACKGROUND: A multicenter prospective study was conducted to assess the safety and sustained effectiveness of a new instrument possessing multifunctionality as an ostium seeker, suction-irrigator, and malleable balloon-dilator indicated for treating multiple sinuses. METHODS: Endoscopic balloon-only and hybrid-balloon procedures involving dilation of the frontal recesses, maxillary ostia, and/or sphenoid sinus ostia were performed in 175 patients. One-month follow-up was required for all patients. The first 50 patients enrolled also consented to a 1-year follow-up. Complications and sinus symptom severity were assessed at the 1-month visit. Symptom severity and ostial patency of the treated sinuses were evaluated at the 1-year visit. RESULTS: A total of 497 balloon dilations (279 frontal, 138 sphenoid, and 80 maxillary) were attempted in 175 patients. Over 96% (479/497) of the attempted sinus dilations were successfully completed, while 18 dilations were converted to traditional dissection due to an inability to access or dilate the targeted anatomy. Two (1.1%) nonserious adverse events were reported following hybrid-balloon dilation and both were unrelated to the device or the procedure. Forty-four of 50 patients in the extended follow-up cohort completed the 1-year follow-up. Sinus symptom improvement in this group improved significantly from an average severity of 1.9 ± 1.1 to 0.8 ± 0.7 (p < 0.0001) and 1-year ostial patency was 91.6% (76/83). One revision surgery (2.3%) was performed. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that a multifunctional, malleable, balloon-dilating device can be safely and successfully used to treat multiple sinuses with sustained ostial patency and symptom improvement for at least 1 year.