Speech Outcomes of Frenectomy for Tongue-Tie Release: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Tongue-tie, which is also known as ankyloglossia, is a common condition where the lingual frenulum is unusually tight or short. While most literature investigates the impact of tongue-tie on breastfeeding, recent articles have examined its role in speech production in children. However, these have not previously been reviewed systematically. This study aims to determine the impact of tongue-tie on speech outcomes and assess whether frenectomy can improve speech function. METHODS: In this systematic review, we conducted a comprehensive search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Embase, and speechBITE to analyze primary studies investigating the impact of frenectomy for tongue-tie on speech outcomes. We extracted data regarding patient age, male to female ratio, procedure type, follow-up time, and speech outcomes and ran statistical analyses to determine if frenectomy for tongue-tie leads to improvement in speech issues in pediatric patients. Speech outcomes extracted were subjectively measured based on the interpretation of a speech and language pathologist or parent. RESULTS: Our analysis included 10 studies with an average patient age of 4.10 years, and average cohort size of 22.17 patients. Overall, frenectomy for tongue-tie was associated with an improvement in speech articulation (0.78; 95% CI: 0.64-0.87; P < .01). Increasing patient age was found to be negatively correlated with post-frenectomy speech outcomes (P = .01). However, this relationship disappeared in the adjusted model. CONCLUSION: Overall, we conclude that frenectomy is a suitable treatment to correct speech issues in select patients with tongue-tie if caught early in childhood. Despite the limited investigations around speech outcomes post-frenectomy, these results are informative to providers treating tongue-tie.

Dexmedetomidine and Other Analgosedatives Alter Pupil Characteristics in Critically Ill Patients.

In critically ill patients with neurologic disease, pupil examination abnormalities can signify evolving intracranial pathology. Analgesic and sedative medications (analgosedatives) target pupillary pathways, but it remains unknown how analgosedatives alter pupil findings in the clinical care setting. We assessed dexmedetomidine and other analgosedative associations with pupil reactivity and size in a heterogeneous cohort of critically ill patients with acute intracranial pathology. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Two neurologic ICUs between 2016 and 2018. PATIENTS: Critically ill adult patients with pupil measurements within 60 minutes of analgosedative administration. Patients with a history of intrinsic retinal pathology, extracranial injury, inaccessible brain imaging, or no Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) data were excluded. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We used mixed-effects linear regression accounting for intrapatient correlations and adjusting for sex, age, GCS score, radiographic mass effect, medication confounders, and ambient light. We tested the association between an initiation or increased IV infusion of dexmedetomidine and pupil reactivity (Neurologic Pupil Index [NPi]) and resting pupil size (mm) obtained using NeurOptics NPi-200 (NeurOptics, Irvine, CA) pupillometer. Of our 221 patients with 9,897 pupil observations (median age, 60 [interquartile range, 50-68]; 59% male), 37 patients (166 pupil observations) were exposed to dexmedetomidine. Dexmedetomidine was associated with higher average NPi (ß = 0.18 per 1 unit increase in rank-normalized NPi ± 0.04; p < 0.001) and smaller pupil size (ß = -0.25 ± 0.05; p < 0.001). Exploratory analyses revealed that acetaminophen was associated with higher average NPi (ß = 0.04 ± 0.02; p = 0.02) and that most IV infusion analgosedatives including propofol, fentanyl, and midazolam were associated with smaller pupil size. CONCLUSIONS: Dexmedetomidine is associated with higher pupil reactivity (high NPi) and smaller pupil size in a cohort of critically ill patients with neurologic injury. Familiarity with expected pupil changes following analgosedative administration is important for accurate interpretation of pupil examination findings, facilitating optimal management of patients with acute intracranial pathology.