Radiofrequency volumetric tissue reduction for treatment of turbinate hypertrophy in children

A review of outcomes following inferior turbinate reduction surgery in children for chronic nasal obstruction

“…A total of 730 cases were pooled from the 11 studies evaluated and are summarized in Table 1 [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. The ages of the children ranged from 1 to 17 years at the time of surgery and were followedup for a period of 3 months to 14 years.…”

“…Partial or subtotal inferior turbinectomy was the preferred technique utilized in the studies published in the early 1990s, whilst the use of the carbon dioxide [12,16] or YAG [18] laser was reported in studies published from the late 1990s. Radiofrequency thermal ablation and micro-debrider were used in the more recent published studies [19][20][21].…”

“…2) [20]. Four other studies, using a structured questionnaire, reported improvement in scores for nasal obstruction following turbinate surgery [15][16][17]19]. Three questionnaires were designed to be completed by the parents or carers, and one was structured to be answered by the child.…”

Long-term follow-up of children after submucosal diathermy to the inferior turbinate for rhinitis

“…There are a variety of options to reduce the hypertrophied inferior turbinate surgically with SMD being one of the least aggressive options [9]. Improvements in nasal airflow after one year have been achieved after one year using radiofrequency volumetric tissue reduction of the inferior turbinates [10]. This is the first study to look at long term (minimum 3 years) outcomes for SMD in children.…”

Histopathological and ultrastructural effects of cutting radiofrequency energy on palatal soft tissues: a prospective study

“…Within the field of otolaryngology RF has been used in the oral cavity for tonsil reduction [1][2][3], and excision [4], in the ear for the formation of temporary tympanostomy [5] and in the nasal cavity for turbinate reduction in both adults [6][7][8][9][10][11] and children [12]. Perhaps the greatest application of RF in otolaryngology is in the treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS).…”