Objective. This update of a 2011 guideline developed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation provides evidence-based recommendations on the pre-, intra-, and postoperative care and management of children 1 to 18 years of age under consideration for tonsillectomy. Tonsillectomy is defined as a surgical procedure performed with or without adenoidectomy that completely removes the tonsil, including its capsule, by dissecting the peritonsillar space between the tonsil capsule and the muscular wall. Tonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures in the United States, with 289,000 ambulatory procedures performed annually in children \15 years of age based on the most recent published data. This guideline is intended for all clinicians in any setting who interact with children who may be candidates for tonsillectomy. KAS 14 (Postoperative codeine), and KAS 15a (Outcome assessment for bleeding). (6) Addition of an algorithm outlining KASs. (7) Enhanced emphasis on patient and/or caregiver education and shared decision making.

Objective. This guideline provides otolaryngologists with evidence-based recommendations for using polysomnography in assessing children, aged 2 to 18 years, with sleep-disordered breathing and are candidates for tonsillectomy, with or without adenoidectomy. Polysomnography is the electrographic recording of simultaneous physiologic variables during sleep and is currently considered the gold standard for objectively assessing sleep disorders.Purpose. There is no current consensus or guideline on when children 2 to 18 years of age, who are candidates for tonsillectomy, are recommended to have polysomnography. The primary purpose of this guideline is to improve referral patterns for polysomnography among these patients. In creating this guideline, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation selected a panel representing the fields of anesthesiology, pulmonology medicine, otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, pediatrics, and sleep medicine.Results. The committee made the following recommendations: (1) before determining the need for tonsillectomy, the clinician should refer children with sleep-disordered breathing for polysomnography if they exhibit certain complex medical conditions such as obesity, Down syndrome, craniofacial abnormalities, neuromuscular disorders, sickle cell disease, or mucopolysaccharidoses. (2) The clinician should advocate for polysomnography prior to tonsillectomy for sleep-disordered breathing in children without any of the comorbidities listed in statement 1 for whom the need for surgery is uncertain or when there is discordance between tonsillar size on physical examination and the reported severity of sleep-disordered breathing. (3) Clinicians should communicate polysomnography results to the anesthesiologist prior to the induction of anesthesia for tonsillectomy in a child with sleep-disordered breathing. (4) Clinicians should admit children with obstructive sleep apnea documented on polysomnography for inpatient, overnight monitoring after tonsillectomy if they are younger than age 3 or have severe obstructive sleep apnea (apnea-hypopnea index of 10 or more obstructive events/hour, oxygen saturation nadir less than 80%, or both). (5) In children for whom polysomnography is indicated to assess sleep-disordered breathing prior to tonsillectomy, clinicians should obtain laboratory-based polysomnography, when available.

Objective. This update of a 2011 guideline developed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation provides evidence-based recommendations on the pre-, intra-, and postoperative care and management of children 1 to 18 years of age under consideration for tonsillectomy. Tonsillectomy is defined as a surgical procedure performed with or without adenoidectomy that completely removes the tonsil, including its capsule, by dissecting the peritonsillar space between the tonsil capsule and the muscular wall. Tonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures in the United States, with 289,000 ambulatory procedures performed annually in children \15 years of age, based on the most recent published data. This guideline is intended for all clinicians in any setting who interact with children who may be candidates for tonsillectomy. Purpose. The purpose of this multidisciplinary guideline is to identify quality improvement opportunities in managing children under consideration for tonsillectomy and to create explicit and actionable recommendations to implement these opportunities in clinical practice. Specifically, the goals are to educate clinicians, patients, and/or caregivers regarding the indications for tonsillectomy and the natural history of recurrent throat infections. Additional goals include the following: optimizing the perioperative management of children undergoing tonsillectomy, emphasizing the need for evaluation and intervention in special populations, improving the counseling and education of families who are considering tonsillectomy for their children, highlighting the management options for patients with modifying factors, and reducing inappropriate or unnecessary variations in care. Children aged 1 to 18 years under consideration for tonsillectomy are the target patient for the guideline. For this guideline update, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation selected a panel representing the fields of nursing, anesthesiology, consumers, family medicine, infectious disease, otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, pediatrics, and sleep medicine. Key Action Statements. The guideline update group made strong recommendations for the following key action statements (KASs): (1) Clinicians should recommend watchful waiting for recurrent throat infection if there have been \7 episodes in the past year, \5 episodes per year in the past 2 years, or \3 episodes per year in the past 3 years. (2) Clinicians should administer a single intraoperative dose of intravenous dexamethasone to children undergoing tonsillectomy. (3) Clinicians should recommend ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or both for pain control after tonsillectomy. The guideline update group made recommendations for the following KASs: (1) Clinicians should assess the child with recurrent throat infection who does not meet criteria in KAS 2 for modifying factors that may nonetheless favor tonsillectomy, which may include but are not limited to multiple antibiotic allergies/intolerance, PFAPA (period...

SummaryPreviously, we reported that nitric oxide (NO) provides significant protection to mammalian cells from the cytotoxic effects of hydrogen peroxide (H202). Murine neutrophils and activated macrophages, however, produce NO, H202, and other reactive oxygen species to kill microorganisms, which suggests a paradox. In this study, we treated bacteria (Escherichia coh~ with NO and H202 for 30 rain and found that exposure to NO resulted in minimal toxicity, but greatly potentiated (up to 1,000-fold) H202-mediated killing, as evaluated by a clonogenic assay. The combination of NO/H2O 2 induced DNA double strand breaks in the bacterial gehome, as shown by field-inverted gel electrophoresis, and this increased DNA damage may correlate with cell killing. NO was also shown to alter cellular respiration and decrease the concentration of the antioxidant glutathione to a residual level of 15-20% in bacterial cells. The iron chelator desferrioxamine did not stop the action of NO on respiration and glutathione decrease, yet it prevented the NO/H202 synergistic cytotoxicity, implicating metal ions as critical participants in the NO/H202 cytocidal mechanism. Our results suggest a possible mechanism of modulation of H202-mediated toxicity, and we propose a new key role in the antimicrobial macrophagic response for NO.N itric oxide (NO) 1 originates from the biotransformation of r-arginine to L-citrulline by nitric oxide synthase (NOS) (1). NOS is found in several different cells, including endothelia, neurons, and macrophages (2, 3). In murine macrophages, NOS is upregulated by cytokines such as IFN-~/, TNF-ot, and LPS (4-6). When murine macrophages and neutrophils are activated by bacterial invasion of the host, they produce NO together with other reactive species (O2-', H202, "OH, HOC1) (7). Presumably, because NO, H202, and 02-" are produced when macrophages and neutrophils are activated to kill pathogenic microorganisms, their simultaneous presence should provide an advantage to the host cell. A previous report postulated that the peroxynitrite ion formed by the reaction of NO with superoxide anion is, at least in part, responsible for macrophage-mediated bacteriocidal action (8). A more recent study showed that the spontaneous NO-releasing agent [((C2Hs)2N[(O)NO]-Na+), diethylamine (DEA)/NO] protects mammalian cells from the H202-induced cytotoxicity (9), An antagonistic interaction between NO and H20 2 is mechanistically intriguing since macrophages must themselves survive as well as protect normal surrounding mammalian cells while secreting toxic species to defend against bacteria. We therefore undertook studies to better define (a) whether NO plus H20 2 is bacteriocidal to Eschero ichia coli; (b) the potential mechanism(s) underlying the bacteriocidal effect; and (c) the critical cellular target for NO/ H202-mediated damage. For these studies, DEA/NO was used as a NO donor agent. DEA/NO has a half-life of 2.5 rain at 37~ and netural pH, and it spontaneously releases two equivalents of NO per mole (10). DEA/NO provides ...

Sixty-six percent of subjects in the WW group completed the study without ABX. Parent satisfaction was the same between groups regardless of treatment. Compared with WW, immediate ABX treatment was associated with decreased numbers of treatment failures and improved symptom control but increased ABX-related adverse events and a higher percent carriage of multidrug-resistant S pneumoniae strains in the nasopharynx at the day-12 visit. Key factors in implementing a WW strategy were (a) a method to classify AOM severity; (b) parent education; (c) management of AOM symptoms; (d) access to follow-up care; and (e) use of an effective ABX regimen, when needed. When these caveats are observed, WW may be an acceptable alternative to immediate ABX for some children with nonsevere AOM.