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

Objective: To 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 Design: Two-group, retrospective cohort with blinded chart review comparison.

Setting: Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI.

Subjects And Methods: Chart 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.

Results: Mean 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 (χ(2)=1.15) reported improvement in their overall sinus symptoms post-operatively.

Conclusion: Both 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.