Low-temperature plasma adenoidectomy versus conservative treatment for children with adenoid hypertrophy and allergic rhinitis: A non-randomized observational study
Biao Yan, Hui FangObjective
To investigate the effect of low-temperature radiofrequency ablation (LTRFA) adenoidectomy on the improvement of allergic rhinitis (AR) in children with adenoid hypertrophy (AH) complicated by AR, in comparison with conservative pharmacological management.
Methods
A total of 89 pediatric patients with AH complicated by AR were enrolled in this non-randomized observational study. Among them, 59 underwent LTRFA adenoidectomy under nasal endoscopy, and 30 received conservative anti-allergic therapy (patients who declined surgical intervention). Symptom severity was assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS; score 1–10) at baseline and at 6 months of follow-up. Improvement was defined as a reduction in VAS score of ≥3 points from baseline. Between-group comparison of VAS change scores was performed using an independent-samples t-test.
Results
Baseline VAS scores were comparable between groups (surgical: 7.85±1.46; conservative: 7.63±1.52; P=0.512). At 6 months, the mean VAS change score was 4.95±1.90 in the surgical group and 2.51±1.44 in the conservative group, a difference that was statistically significant (P<0.001). Based on the improvement criterion (VAS reduction ≥3 points), 52 of 59 surgical patients (88.1%) and 17 of 30 conservative patients (56.7%) met the threshold (χ 2 =11.30, P<0.001).
Conclusions
In children with AH complicated by AR, LTRFA adenoidectomy was associated with significantly greater improvement in nasal symptom scores at 6 months compared with conservative treatment. These findings suggest that LTRFA adenoidectomy may be a beneficial treatment option; however, given the non-randomized design and limited follow-up duration, further randomized controlled trials with objective outcome measures are needed to confirm these preliminary observations.