Pediatric inferior turbinate surgery: A review and meta-analysis of midterm nasal patency

The surgical treatment of children with enlarged inferior turbinates is still controversial. Foundational evidence for indicating turbinoplasty is still scarce, and there is a myriad of proposed techniques. This work aimed to address the midterm nasal obstruction outcomes of pediatric inferior turbinate surgery.A Literature search across PUBMED and Cochrane collaboration databases was undertaken, using the MeSH terms: turbinates, nasal obstruction, surgery, and children. Articles focusing on turbinate surgery with an exclusively pediatric cohort were included. The minimum follow-up time for inclusion was set at four months, and only the latest available follow-up in each study was considered. All the integrated studies used objective instruments to quantify nasal obstruction before and after surgery. A comprehensive review and meta-analysis were performed to assess nasal outcomes after the intervention. The 95% confidence interval of the effect magnitude for each study was calculated to elucidate effect sizes.Seven studies met the inclusion criteria for review, and five were included in the meta-analysis, accounting for a total of 510 patients. The follow-up period ranged from 4 months to 1 year. Pooled results showed that nasal patency was significantly improved after surgery (p < 0.001) in the midterm follow-up. No significant differences were found between bone-sparing and bone-removal procedures (p = 0.38).This is the first meta-analysis to address midterm results of pediatric turbinate surgery. Our results suggest a positive impact of inferior turbinate surgery on nasal patency, irrespective of technique.