Evaluating the efficacy of surgical treatment in infants with choanal atresia

Objective: to evaluate the efficacy of stentless endoscopic surgery for congenital choanal atresia (CCA) in infants. Materials and Methods. Our study involved 51 infants under 1 year of age who underwent stentless choanoplasty. Main group: infants operated for the first time (n=27). Comparison group: infants with relapse after traditional choanoplasty with stents (n=24). Endoscopic examination and saturation levels were employed to evaluate treatment results. Quality of life was assessed using la Qualité de Vie du Nourrisson questionnaire for children from 3 months of age to 1-3 years of age. Parents of 45 infants participated in the survey: 25 infants were from the main group and 20 infants represented the comparison group. Results. No signs of restenosis were detected during endoscopic examination of the nasal cavity and nasopharynx in 50 patients during follow-up observation (1-2 years). Saturation after surgery increased from 98.4±2.4% to 99.4±1.2% (p=0.001) in patients of the main group and from 93.5±4.7% to 99.0±1.0% (p<0.001) in the comparison group. Assessment of quality-of-life values after surgical treatment by the stentless method showed an increase from 14.4±0.4 to 15.3±1.8 (p=0.056) in the main group and from 14.0±0.4 pts to 15.6±1.0 pts (p<0.001) in the comparison group. Conclusion. Endoscopic endonasal stentless method of surgical treatment of CCA in infants is characterized by higher efficacy vs. traditional choanoplasty with stenting.