FUNCTIONAL ENDOSCOPIC SURGERY IN CHILDREN - A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

The impact of chronic sinusitis on children has become more apparent a s the awareness of the disease has increased. Consequently, the knowle dge of its effect in the pediatric patient has expanded dramatically. Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) has become the primary surg ical modality for treatment of this illness in children who have not r esponded to optimal medical management. A retrospective study was cond ucted in patients from 7 months to 17 years of age who were treated wi th FESS for chronic sinusitis refractory to medical therapy. Using a c omprehensive parental questionnaire and a review of the medical charts , results were analyzed from these post-FESS children. Parents of the children were interviewed with a mean follow-up time of 21.8 months po stoperatively. Factors discussed included chronic nasal obstruction, p urulent nasal discharge, postnasal drip, chronic cough, halitosis, hea daches, behavioral problems, allergies, and asthma symptoms. This prel iminary investigation suggests that FESS is effective in treating medi cally recalcitrant severe chronic sinusitis in children.