[Statement on the lower age limit for outpatient adenotomies and tonsillotomies]. / Stellungnahme zur Altersuntergrenze bei der ambulanten Durchführung von Adenotomien und Tonsillotomien.

At the beginning of 2023, there have been significant changes to the regulations for outpatient surgery in Germany, which were set out in a trilateral self-administration agreement between the umbrella association of statutory health insurance companies, the German Hospital Association and the Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. Among other things, a catalog stated circumstances under which an operation should not be carried out on an outpatient basis or should only be carried out with doubt. This catalog explains the patient's age: up to the first year of life, inpatient performance of a service can be justified. This formulation in itself means that children from one year of age on should regularly undergo outpatient surgery.In the german scientific societies for otolaryngology, head and neck surgery as well as for anesthesiology and intensive care medicine, doubts arose as to whether this age limit could also be scientifically justified for operations in the throat such as adenotomy or tonsillotomy.A search was carried out in international guidelines and in the international literature and the statements were evaluated. The results of this literature search were discussed with representatives of the Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology Working Group (AG PädHNO) of the German Society for Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (DGHNO-KHC) and the scientific working group for pediatric anesthesia (WAKKA) of the German Society for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) in conferences.The consensus revealed that a strict age limit of the first year of life is not appropriate for the outpatient performance of adenotomies and tonsillotomies. First of all, specifying a strict age limit is questionable because, regardless of age, a number of other medical and social factors influence the responsible performance of outpatient operations. Furthermore, the age limit of one year is not considered appropriate in view of literature, guidelines and practical experience in the international area. The assessment of the literature and the consideration of the implementation in the international area make an age limit in the range of 2-3 years seem more appropriate.This review provides the responsible doctors with a variety of insights, aspects and arguments so that they can make their decision to carry out these operations on an outpatient or inpatient basis appropriately and responsibly.

[Prognostic value of the ELS grading system for assessment of laryngotracheal stenosis in children]. / Prognostische Aussagekraft der ELS-Klassifikation bei der Beurteilung laryngotrachealer Stenosen im Kindesalter.

BACKGROUND: In 2015, the European Laryngological Society (ELS) published a consensus paper in which a new classification system for laryngotracheal stenosis (LTS) was presented. This retrospective analysis investigates the classification's reliability and prognostic value regarding the outcome of surgical airway reconstruction in a pediatric population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 191 pediatric patients treated with cricotracheal or segmental resection were included. The ELS score was retrospectively calculated using information on the degree of stenosis, number of involved subsites, and presence of significant comorbidity. Reliability and prognostic value for airway restoration, surgical complications, and need of additional treatment were analyzed. RESULTS: Decannulation rate differed with regards to etiology (96% for acquired LTS, 86 and 87% for congenital and posttraumatic LTS, respectively). Decannulation was significantly more likely with 1-2 involved subsites than in LTS with 3-4 subsites (97 vs. 72%). The number of additional interventions after reconstruction was largely dependent on the number of involved subsites and the presence of significant comorbidity. CONCLUSION: The ELS score for LTS permits prognostically reliable classification and is thus a valuable tool for decision making, counseling of patients and relatives, and comparing treatment outcomes.

[Possibilities and limitations of palliative surgery in head and neck cancer patients]. / Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Palliativchirurgie im Kopf-Hals-Bereich.

BACKGROUND: Incurable head and neck cancer causes distressing symptoms that significantly reduce patients' quality of life. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to present the surgical possibilities and their limitations in a palliative setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature review was performed and supplemented with the authors' own experiences. RESULTS: Smaller endoscopic procedures for tumor debulking or hemostasis are possible to reduce symptoms and improving quality of life, which should be the aim of palliative care. To preserve swallowing function and breathing, the insertion of stents is a feasible alternative to tracheotomy. However, even larger tumor resections with reconstruction by pedicled or free grafts may be justified. CONCLUSION: Especially in the palliative setting, patients and their individual complaints are the primary focus. Therefore, the indications for surgery should be discussed with the patient and his relatives, preferentially interdisciplinarily. Due to considerable progress, particularly in the field of systemic tumor therapy, extended surgical procedures with reconstruction are losing some of their importance in the palliative situation.

[Hospitalization of children after ENT surgery in Germany]. / Hospitalisierung von Kindern nach HNO-Eingriffen in Deutschland.

BACKGROUND: Morbidity following tonsil surgery is widely determined by pain, odynophagia, and bleeding. Detailed information about postoperative care in pediatric patients in Germany in the context of otolaryngologic interventions is currently lacking. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire including eight questions to clarify trends and traditions in hospitalization strategies for pediatric patients was sent via email on January 14, 2019, to all heads of ENT departments who were also members of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (DGHNO). The electronic survey was designed by the Pediatric Working Group of the DGHNO. RESULTS: The response rate was 72.9% (120/166), one response was excluded because it was not provided via the online tool. Children are currently transferred to pediatric clinics after surgery in 64 of 120 otorhinolaryngology departments, a tradition in existence for at least 5 years in 48 of the 64 departments. In the remaining 56 institutions, children remained in the otorhinolaryngology department despite 30 having specialized pediatric clinics or clinics for pediatric surgery. This strategy is expected to be discontinued in 5 of the 56 hospitals in due course. A separate pediatric ENT clinic within the same institution is uncommon (27/120). The average travel time of on-call physicians in cases of postoperative bleeding is 3.4 min; transportation of the child to the emergency operation room takes 5.4 min on average. The nursing staff is predominantly responsible for transportation of pediatric emergency patients (109/120). The wards and operation rooms are commonly located in the same building, but on different floors (83/120). CONCLUSION: There is currently no uniform hospitalization strategy for postoperative care of children who undergo typical otorhinolaryngologic interventions in Germany.

Predictors of recurrence after surgical treatment of idiopathic progressive subglottic stenosis.

Idiopathic progressive subglottic stenosis is a rare cause of tracheal narrowing. Partial cricotracheal resection and anastomosis can cure idiopathic stenosis, even if some patients may require multiple interventions and experience voice and swallowing deterioration. We investigated risk factors for retreatment and assessed the impact of crico-tracheal resection on functional parameters. We conducted a retrospective multicentric study on 44 female patients (mean age 52.6 ± 13.1 years) affected by idiopathic stenosis and treated by crico-tracheal resection between 2002 and 2016. Functional outcomes after crico-tracheal resection were assessed by the airway-dyspnoea-voice-swallowing score (range 1-5, with "1" expressing normal and "5" completely altered function). Previous treatments, grade of stenosis, site, airway comorbidities, age and resection length were tested as predictors of postoperative complications and number of additional treatments, using bivariate and multivariate analysis. The overall decannulation rate was 97.3%. The dyspnoea score improved (mean variation 1.4 ± 1.0; p < 0.001), while voice and swallowing were negatively affected (mean variation 1.6 ± 0.9 and 0.5 ± 0.7, respectively; p < 0.001). Airway comorbidities were associated with a higher rate of complications (p < 0.05). Retreatments were more frequent in patients with postoperative complications (p < 0.05). The length of resection correlated with the number of subsequent treatments (R = 0.52; p < 0.01). At multivariate analysis, post-operative complications were predicted by comorbidities and disease stage (p < 0.05); number of retreatments was linked to the length of resection (p < 0.05) as well as with the application of mitomycin C (p < 0.001). Crico-tracheal resection for idiopathic progressive subglottic stenosis offers good functional results in terms of airway patency. These data suggest that a higher complication rate can be expected in patients affected by comorbidities. Moreover, more extensive surgical resection seems to be associated with the occurrence and number of subsequent retreatments. On the contrary, the local application of an anti-proliferative drug does not seem to be of use in preventing recurrences.

Induction chemotherapy (IC) followed by radiotherapy (RT) versus cetuximab plus IC and RT in advanced laryngeal/hypopharyngeal cancer resectable only by total laryngectomy-final results of the larynx organ preservation trial DeLOS-II.

Background: The German multicenter randomized phase II larynx organ preservation (LOP) trial DeLOS-II was carried out to prove the hypothesis that cetuximab (E) added to induction chemotherapy (IC) and radiotherapy improves laryngectomy-free survival (LFS; survival with preserved larynx) in locally advanced laryngeal/hypopharyngeal cancer (LHSCC). Patients and methods: Treatment-naïve patients with stage III/IV LHSCC amenable to total laryngectomy (TL) were randomized to three cycles IC with TPF [docetaxel (T) and cisplatin (P) 75 mg/m2/day 1, 5-FU (F) 750 mg/m2/day days 1-5] followed by radiotherapy (69.6 Gy) without (A) or with (B) standard dose cetuximab for 16 weeks throughout IC and radiotherapy (TPFE). Response to first IC-cycle (IC-1) with ≥30% endoscopically estimated tumor surface shrinkage (ETSS) was used to define early responders; early salvage TL was recommended to non-responders. The primary objective was 24 months LFS above 35% in arm B. Results: Of 180 patients randomized (July 2007 to September 2012), 173 fulfilled eligibility criteria (A/B: larynx 44/42, hypopharynx 41/46). Because of 4 therapy-related deaths among the first 64 randomized patients, 5-FU was omitted from IC in the subsequent 112 patients reducing further fatal toxicities. Thus, IC was TPF in 61 patients and TP in 112 patients, respectively. The primary objective (24 months LFS above 35%) was equally met by arms A (40/85, 47.1%) as well as B (41/88, 46.6%). One hundred and twenty-three early responders completed IC+RT; their overall response rates (TPF/TP) were 94.7%/87.2% in A versus 80%/86.0% in B. The 24 months overall survival (OS) rates were 68.2% and 69.3%. Conclusions: Despite being accompanied by an elevated frequency in adverse events, the IC with TPF/TP plus cetuximab was feasible but showed no superiority to IC with TPF/TP regarding LFS and OS at 24 months. Both early response and 24 months LFS compare very well to previous LOP trials and recommend effective treatment selection and stratification by ETSS. Clinical trial information: NCT00508664.

[Supraglottoplasty for pediatric laryngomalacia : Results from 71 cases]. / Supraglottoplastik bei kindlicher Laryngomalazie : Ergebnisse aus 71 Fällen.

Laryngomalacia is the most common cause of stridor in infants. The stridor is caused by an inward collapse of supraglottic structures during inspiration resulting in an inspiratory stridor. The exact etiology still remains unclear. The surgical procedure of choice for laryngomalacia is supraglottoplasty. From 2009 to 2016 a total of 71 children were treated by supraglottoplasty in the department for pediatric otorhinolaryngology of the Stuttgart Hospital. The indications for supraglottoplasty were laryngomalacia with severe inspiratory stridor, oxygen desaturation, suprasternal or chest retraction, feeding difficulties and/or failure to thrive. The overall success rate was 86 % but there was a clear difference between children with isolated laryngomalacia and the group with associated comorbidities. The success rate for patients with isolated laryngomalacia was 98 % and for patients with associated comorbidities 57 %. Supraglottoplasty is therefore an effective and safe treatment for symptomatic laryngomalacia and a reduction in the success rate showed a clear correlation with the presence of congenital comorbidities.

[Satisfaction of patients with tracheostomal epithesis]. / Die Tracheostomaepithese - eine Evaluation der Patientenzufriedenheit.

BACKGROUND: The utilization of craniofacial prosthesis has proven to be very successful for craniofacial defects. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the value of an epithesis for voice rehabilitation in patients with tracheostomy. The aim of this study was to describe application of the tracheostomy epithesis and to present a systematic analysis of the functional results of this prosthetic technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective analysis included 48 patients on follow-up being treated in three different centers after laryngectomy and/or tracheostomy between 2008 and 2014. Subjects were given a questionnaire with items such as speech quality, quality of life, free hand speech ability, respiratory quality and sufficient tracheostomal sealing comparing values before and after application of an individually custom-made tracheostomy epithesis. Twenty-eight answered the questionnaire and could be reported. RESULTS: Twenty-eight of 48 patients were consistently being included in follow-up. The statistical analysis revealed a significant improvement of tracheostoma occlusion (p < 0.05) and improvement in free hand speech ability (p < 0.05). A leakage of air during voice production could be prevented in 59.3% after application of an epithesis. Quality of life correlated directly with successful utilization of an epithesis. CONCLUSION: In the literature, different industrialized products are described to realize occlusion of the tracheostoma for sufficient speech production without using the hands. In numerous cases commercial solutions fail and the patients need individual modifications. Our study first describes the evaluation of custom-made tracheostomal epithesis. From our observed results we advocate the individual tracheostomal epithesis as a durable solution for voice rehabilitation.

Preoperative assessment and classification of benign laryngotracheal stenosis: a consensus paper of the European Laryngological Society.

Adult and pediatric laryngotracheal stenoses (LTS) comprise a wide array of various conditions that require precise preoperative assessment and classification to improve comparison of different therapeutic modalities in a matched series of patients. This consensus paper of the European Laryngological Society proposes a five-step endoscopic airway assessment and a standardized reporting system to better differentiate fresh, incipient from mature, cicatricial LTSs, simple one-level from complex multilevel LTSs and finally "healthy" from "severely morbid" patients. The proposed scoring system, which integrates all of these parameters, may be used to help define different groups of LTS patients, choose the best treatment modality for each individual patient and assess distinct post-treatment outcomes accordingly.

[Idiopathic progressive subglottic stenosis]. / Idiopathische progressive subglottische Stenose.

Idiopathic subglottic stenosis is causing a narrowing of the central airway at the laryngotracheal junction. Etiology is remaining unclear at large. There is a marked preponderance for women in the fertile age, an association to estrogene or progesterone metabolism remains doubtful. Suggested treatment varies from repeated endoscopic interventions to primary open resection. Therapy selection in this heterogeneous condition should be based on the individual patient situation as well as surgeon's expertise. This complex entity is prone to complications and should preferably be managed in a referral center.

[Pathologies of the larynx and trachea in childhood]. / Erkrankungen von Larynx und Trachea im Kindesalter.

Pathologies in the larynx and trachea in the pediatric age can be characterized in 4 main groups: airway stenosis, acute infections, benign neoplasia and foreign body aspiration. In this review main diagnostic strategies and therapeutic options are presented. Laryngomalazia is the most frequent condition of supraglottic stenosis. The term supraglottoplasty summarizes all different techniques used for it's repair using an endoscopic approach. Glottic stenosis is rare in children. Usually a compromise between voice preservation and airway restoration has to be sought. Type of reconstruction and timing are varying considerably in individual cases, endoscopic approaches should be preferred. Subglottic stenosis remains the largest group in paediatric airway pathology, with cicatrial stenosis being predominant. Today, cricotracheal resection is the most successful treatment option, followed by the classical laryngotracheal reconstruction with autologous cartilage. In early infancy subglottic stenosis is particularly demanding. Endoscopic treatment is possible in selected patients, but open reconstruction is superior in more severe cases. Tracheostomy is not a safe airway in early infancy, it's indication should be strict. Foreign body aspiration needs to be managed according to a clear algorhythm. Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis should be treated with emphasis on function preservation. The role of adjuvant medication remains unclear. Infectious diseases can be managed conservatively by a pediatrician in the majority of cases.

[Quality of voice and life after injectionlaryngoplasty using VOX Implants(®) (polydimethylsiloxane)]. / Stimm- und Lebensqualität nach Injektionslaryngoplastik mit VOX-Implants® (Polydimethylsiloxan).

BACKGROUND: Within the last years the injection laryngoplasty is a common method in treating patients with a unilateral vocal cord paralysis. The augmentation with VOX-Implants is an option for a permanent treatment. The aim was to evaluate the quality of voice as well as the quality of life in this patients and especially if it is comparable to other methods. METHODS: We analyzed prospectively 20 patients who underwent injection laryngoplasty with VOX-Implants in general anesthesia. To verify the glottic closure we examined each patient pre- and postoperative using the rigid stroboscope and the flexible videoendoscope. To measure the voice related quality of life the voice handicap index (VHI-12) had to be answered. Maximum phonation time, RBH-Scale, Voice-Range, "Goettinger hoarsness diagram" (GHD) and the "Friedrich's Dysphonia Index" (FDI) were examined to investigate the quality of voice. RESULTS: The VHI-12 decreased from 30.4 pts. to 13.6 pts. The maximum phonation time was 6.45 s before and 13.95 s after the operation. The RBH-Scale the was lowered form 2.5 preoperative to 1.1 postoperative. The voice range increased 3.5 semi tones. Concerning the GHD the irregularity increased as well as the noise factor (1.79 pts., respective 0.86 pts.). The FDI declined 1.1 pts. CONCLUSION: Using VOX-Implants is a useful material to better the quality of life. The injection laryngoplasty with polydimethylsiloxane improves considerably the quality of voice. No complication concerning the material itself could be seen within 6 months. The results are comparable to other techniques (e.g. Thyroplasty). The decision of which material or which technique is to use must be an individual one.

[Middle ear salivary gland choristoma related to branchio-oto-renal syndrome diagnosed by array-CGH]. / Speicheldrüsenchoristom im Mittelohr bei mittels Array-CGH diagnostiziertem branchiootorenalem Syndrom.

Branchio-oto-renal (BOR) syndrome is characterized by ear malformations associated with sensorineural or mixed hearing loss. In addition, preauricular tags, preauricular pits, branchial cleft fistulas and cysts, as well as renal dysplasia are seen. A genetic mutation on chromosome 8, either autosomal dominantly inherited or occuring as a spontaneous mutation, is the cause in the majority of cases. Using array-based comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), it is possible to detect even the smallest genetic changes. Salivary gland choristoma in the middle ear is very rare. Surgical removal and histological clarification are required.

Safety of intralesional cidofovir in patients with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis: an international retrospective study on 635 RRP patients.

Intralesional use of cidofovir (Vistide(®)) has been one of the mainstays of adjuvant therapy in patients with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) since 1998. In 2011, a communication provided by the producer of cidofovir addressed very serious side effects concerning its off-label use. As this was a general warning, it was inconclusive whether this would account for its use in RRP. The aim of this study is to determine whether nephrotoxic, neutropenic, or oncogenic side effects have occurred after intralesional use of cidofovir in patients with RRP. Update of recent developments in RRP, a multicentre questionnaire and a multicentre retrospective chart review. Sixteen hospitals from eleven countries worldwide submitted records of 635 RRP patients, of whom 275 were treated with cidofovir. RRP patients received a median of three intralesional injections (interquartile range 2-6). There were no statistical differences in occurrence of neutropenia or renal dysfunction before and after cidofovir. There was no statistical difference in occurrence of upper airway and tracheal malignancies between the cidofovir and the non-cidofovir group. In this retrospective patient chart review, no clinical evidence was found for more long-term nephrotoxicity, neutropenia or laryngeal malignancies after the administration of intralesional cidofovir in RRP patients.

[Acute otitis media in children: antibiotic therapy or watchful waiting?]. / Akute Otitis media bei Kindern: Antibiose oder "watchful waiting"?

Acute otitis media is one of the most common infections in childhood and the options of therapy have been examined in numerous studies. Nevertheless, there are controversial opinions regarding the question whether antibiotic therapy makes sense. This is proved through the many different ways that the primary treatment of the middle ear infection is handled throughout the international community. This work gives an overview of the current knowledge and based on these results gives practical recommendations to assist with the diagnosis and treatment of the individual patients.