Pediatric Orbital Fractures: Outcomes in Relation to Time of Surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Orbital trapdoor fractures in children and adolescents can cause persistent problems with vision and appearance. Early surgery is recommended, although, because of the rarity of these fractures, there is a lack of evidence regarding the optimal timing of surgery.The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the time from trauma to surgery on the recovery time and severity of diplopia in children and adolescents with orbital trapdoor fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed of all orbital fractures in children and adolescents aged 0 to 20 years, treated at a tertiary referral center in 2005-2017. Data relating to demographics, cause of injury, surgery, time of follow-up, and final outcomes were extracted. The cases of trapdoor fracture were specifically examined with regard to the time from trauma to surgery and diplopia at last follow-up, which was the primary outcome. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-five patients, aged 2.4 to 20 years (mean 17.0), were treated for orbital fractures during the period; 37 (27%) had an isolated orbital floor fracture and 12 (9%) had a trapdoor fracture. All patients with trapdoor fractures underwent surgery; the mean time to surgery was 11.9 days in 2007-2011 and 1.1 days in 2012-2017. Although statistical significance cannot be proven in this small and retrospective study, a shorter time from trauma to surgery seems to lead to fewer problems with diplopia and 2 patient cases that highlight this are presented. CONCLUSIONS: Delayed surgical intervention in pediatric orbital trapdoor fractures increases the risk of delayed recovery and persistent diplopia. Other factors, such as the degree of muscle incarceration and necrosis and the surgeon's experience and skill, may, however, also influence the outcomes.

Long-Term Outcomes and Complications from Endoscopic Versus Microscopic Transsphenoidal Surgery for Cushing's Disease: A 15-Year Single-Center Study.

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic endonasal surgery is the main transsphenoidal approach for pituitary surgery in many centers; however, few studies compare the endoscopic and microscopic surgical approaches with regard to long-term follow-up. This single-center study aimed to compare the 2 techniques over 15 years. METHODS: Medical records and magnetic resonance images from 40 patients with primary transsphenoidal surgery for Cushing's disease at Sahlgrenska University Hospital between 2003 and 2018 were reviewed. 14 patients who underwent microscopic surgery and 26 patients who underwent endoscopic surgery were included in this study. RESULTS: In the microscopic group, 12 of 14 patients achieved endocrine remission, compared to 19 of 26 patients in the endoscopic group (n. s.). Three patients in each group developed a late recurrence. Complications were seen in 5 patients in the microscopic group and in 8 patients in the endoscopic group (n. s.). No serious complications, such as carotid artery damage, cerebrovascular fluid leakage, epistaxis, or meningitis, occurred in any group. The postoperative hospital stay was shorter in the endoscopic than in the microscopic group. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic endonasal surgery for Cushing's disease showed no difference in remission, recurrence, and complication rates compared to the microscopic approach. The endoscopic group had a shorter postoperative hospital stay than the microscopic group, which in part may be due to the minimal invasiveness of the endoscopic approach.

Patient-Reported Symptoms after Midfacial Trauma.

Background The aim of this study was to assess patient-reported symptoms and health-related quality of life, 12 to 24 months after injury in patients with midfacial fractures. Methods Patients diagnosed with midfacial fractures were assessed regarding symptoms related to the fracture as well as assessment of the patients overall health-related quality of life using the Gothenburg Trismus Questionnaire (GTQ), the Folkestad facial trauma questionnaire, and EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D). Questionnaires were distributed to the study patients 12 to 24 months after the trauma. Medical records were retrospectively surveyed for age, gender, trauma etiology, date of injury, fracture classification, treatment regimen, and time of surgery. Results Sixty-seven percent of the study group reports sensibility disturbance in the face 12 to 24 months after trauma and 52% reported cosmetic consequences related to the trauma. Numbness in the face was the symptom reported to be most disturbing for the patients. Few of the patients reported severe jaw-related problems, problems with muscular tension, or eating limitation according to the validated questionnaire GTQ. Conclusion Sensibility disturbance remains a significant and common symptom 12 to 24 months after midfacial trauma. There is a need for a validated patient-reported outcome instrument for facial trauma that covers multiple aspects of facial trauma such as vision disturbance and diplopia, jaw-related problems, and facial pain as well as sensibility disturbance and cosmetic consequences.

Caregivers' absence from work before and after tonsil surgery in children with sleep-disordered breathing.

PURPOSE: Sleep-disordered breathing, SDB, in children is associated with morbidity that can result in caregivers having to stay at home from work. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the number of days when caregivers are reimbursed, temporary parental benefit (TPB) to stay at home from work to care for their sick child is increased among children with SDB before and after tonsil surgery. METHODS: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study of children (n = 440), aged 2-11 years, that underwent tonsil surgery for SDB in day surgery at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in 2014 and 2015. TPB, was provided by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. The expected days of TPB in the general population of the region were calculated. The number of days with TPB was compared 2 years before and 2 years after surgery and compared with the expected days of TPB. RESULTS: Two years before surgery, the children had no more days of TPB than expected. Two years after surgery, the children with SDB had 4.8 more days with TPB (p < 0.001) than expected, but, when the 1st month after surgery was excluded from the analysis, there was no difference in days of TPB compared with the general population. CONCLUSION: Children with SDB who had tonsil surgery had no more days of parental benefits 2 years before and 2 years after surgery than expected. SDB is associated with increased morbidity, but it does not appear to cause caregivers to stay at home in the majority of children.

The effect of telephone counseling and internet-based support on pain and recovery after tonsil surgery in children - a systematic review.

Objectives: The recovery after tonsil surgery is often troublesome for children and caregivers often feel insecure regarding optimal post-operative care for their children at home.The aim was to study what the current literature reports regarding the effect of post-operative telephone counselling and Internet support on pain and recovery after paediatric tonsil surgery. Method: A systematic literature review was conducted where only randomised clinical trials were included. Outcome measures: Primary outcome measure was pain after surgery. Secondary outcomes also included nausea, anxiety, children's knowledge, use of analgesics, fluid intake and health care service use. Results: Only four studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The studies were heterogeneous, rendering a meta-analysis impossible. The results of the included studies showed a possible positive effect on postoperative pain, as well as level of anxiety, use of analgesics, fluid intake and health care service use. However, the studies were few with few included participants. Conclusion: There were indications, but no definitive evidence supporting the positive effect of telephone counselling or Internet-based support on pain and recovery after tonsil surgery in children. More research is needed to further examine these effects.ClinicalTrials.gov 12/03/2017 (NCT03292068).

Respiratory polygraphy in children with sleep-disordered breathing.

At-home respiratory polygraphy has been shown to be a reliable substitute for in-laboratory polysomnography in adults for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea, but this is less well studied in children. One aim of this study was to examine the quality of at-home respiratory polygraphy in children with sleep-disordered breathing and to evaluate the interrater reliability of the results. Another aim was to study whether calibrated respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) flow can be used for the scoring of respiratory events when the airflow measurements are unreliable. Children aged 4-10 years, with sleep-disordered breathing, underwent at-home respiratory polygraphy. Of 113 polygraphies, only 46% were of acceptable quality, with missing nasal airflow being the most common problem (40%). The median recorded time with artifact-free signal present in three traces simultaneously was 228 min (0-610 min). Seventeen polygraphy studies were selected for further study. Each study was scored by two independent scorers, with and without the nasal airflow signal present, the latter relying on RIP flow for the scoring of respiratory events. The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) from the four different measurements was compared using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Comparison of the two scorers showed moderate agreement, with (ICC = 0.66) and without (ICC = 0.53) nasal airflow. One scorer had good agreement between AHI with and without nasal airflow (ICC = 0.81), whereas the other had poor agreement (ICC = 0.12). In conclusion, the scoring of respiratory events based on RIP flow is scorer dependent even for experienced scorers. The nasal airflow signal is frequently missing in paediatric respiratory polygraphies, which limits the usefulness of the method.

Intranasal Budesonide and Quality of Life in Pediatric Sleep-Disordered Breathing: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective To study the efficacy of budesonide nasal spray on the health-related quality of life and symptoms among children with sleep-disordered breathing. Study Design Randomized, parallel, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Setting Tertiary referral center. Subjects and Methods Sixty children (ages, 4-10 years) who were referred because of snoring and/or apneas for >3 months were included between January 2015 and June 2016 and randomized in a double-blind design to treatment with 64 µg/mL of budesonide nasal spray (n = 30) or placebo nasal spray (n = 30) twice daily for 6 weeks. The primary outcome measurement was the change in the mean OSA-18 total score from baseline. Other variables examined were individual OSA-18 domains, a visual analog scale for quality of life, symptoms (snoring, apneas, and nasal obstruction), and adenoid and tonsil size. The trial was investigator initiated and not sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. Results Fifty-five children completed the trial. An intention-to-treat analysis revealed a significantly greater improvement in the mean OSA-18 total score after treatment with budesonide than placebo (19.5 vs 7.5, P = .0014). Intranasal budesonide also improved 2 OSA-18 domains (sleep disturbance, caregivers' concerns), the visual analog scale score for quality of life, as well as snoring, apneas, and nasal obstruction. No serious adverse events were reported that could be linked to the treatment. Conclusion Among children with sleep-disordered breathing, 6 weeks' treatment with intranasal budesonide significantly improved quality of life and symptoms as compared with placebo nasal spray.

Indirect costs related to caregivers' absence from work after paediatric tonsil surgery.

Tonsillotomy has gradually replaced tonsillectomy as the surgical method of choice in children with upper airway obstruction during sleep, because of less postoperative pain and a shorter recovery time. The aim of this study was to examine the costs related to caregivers' absenteeism from work after tonsillectomy (TE) and tonsillotomy (TT). All tonsillectomies and tonsillotomies in Sweden due to upper airway obstruction during 1 year, reported to the National Tonsil Surgery Register in children aged 1-11 were included, n = 4534. The number of days the child needed analgesics after surgery was used as a proxy to estimate the number of work days lost for the caregiver. Data from the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) regarding the days the parents received temporary parental benefits in the month following surgery were also analysed. The indirect costs due to the caregivers' absenteeism after tonsillectomy vs tonsillotomy were calculated, using the human capital method. The patient-reported use of postoperative analgesic use was 77% (n = 3510). Data from the Social Insurance Agency were gathered for all 4534 children. The mean duration of analgesic treatment was 4.6 days (indirect cost of EUR 747). The mean number of days with parental benefits was 2.9 (EUR 667). The indirect cost of tonsillectomy was 61% higher than that of tonsillotomy (EUR 1010 vs EUR 629). The results show that the choice of surgical method affects the indirect costs, favouring the use of tonsillotomy over tonsillectomy for the treatment of children with SDB, due to less postoperative pain.