Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) alone versus balloon catheter sinuplasty (BCS) and ethmoidectomy: A comparative outcome analysis in pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether the addition of BCS (balloon catheter sinuplasty) would improve the treatment outcome in children with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) compared to FESS (functional endoscopic sinus surgery).Study designTwo-group, retrospective cohort with blinded chart review comparison.SettingChildren's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI.Subjects and methodsChart review of 15 pediatric patients who underwent BCS with ethmoidectomy and 16 who underwent FESS from 2008 to 2011 for treatment of CRS in a tertiary care, university affiliated, pediatric institution. Pre-operative CT-scans as well as pre and post-operative sinus symptoms and medications were compared. Post-surgical outcome was examined using chi square analysis.ResultsMean age of children at the time of the procedure was 9.3 (SD = 4.19; range = 3–17). Both groups had similar pre-surgical Lund–Mackay CT CRS scores (FESS: mean = 9.33 and t = 0.67; balloon: mean = 10.58, t = 0.68, and p = 0.51). Analyses identified significant post-treatment reductions in overall symptoms and needed interventions in both treatment groups. Side-by-side post-operative comparison of patients who underwent balloon sinuplasty to FESS demonstrated statistically significant post-operative difference between the two groups in antibiotic requirement, sinus congestion and headaches. Though not statistically significant, 62.5% of FESS patients and 80.0% of BCS patients (χ2 = 1.15) reported improvement in their overall sinus symptoms post-operatively.ConclusionBoth BCS and FESS are suitable treatments for CRS in children. Both treatments significantly reduced CRS complaints post-operatively and had similar overall results. BCS patients required significantly fewer antibiotics post-operatively for CRS related disease when compared to FESS. Larger prospective studies with long-term data are needed to further evaluate.