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Carlos Alberto Carvalho Brinckmann, MD; Flávia Penso Scapin, MD; Luiz Antônio Guerra Bernd, MD, PhD; José Faibes Lubianca Neto, MD, PhD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008;134(8):832-836.

Objective  To determine the effect of improved nasopharyngeal airflow after adenoidectomy on nasal turbinate erectile tissue in pediatric patients.

Design  Clinical, prospective, before-and-after study.

Setting  Pediatric Otolaryngology Clinic at Hospital da Criança Santo Antônio de Porto Alegre (Complexo Hospitalar Santa Casa de Porto Alegre).

Patients  Twenty-one 5- to 11-year-old children diagnosed as having severe nasal obstruction, with an indication for adenoidectomy.

Intervention  Adenoidectomy.

Main Outcome Measures  Acoustic rhinometry data before and 90 days after surgery. To specifically monitor erectile tissue behavior, only the volume of the nasal turbinate region was considered (depth, 2.20-5.40 cm).

Results  The volume of the turbinate region varied from 6.03 cm³ in the preoperative evaluation to 6.99 cm³ in the postoperative evaluation, representing an increase of 16% (P < .04). Multiple linear and logistic regressions did not reveal any factors other than adenoidectomy that could explain this change.

Conclusions  Because the only possible explanation for the observed erectile tissue changes was improvement in nasal airflow, we can assume that adenoidectomy favorably affects the behavior of nasal erectile structures and is associated with a decrease in turbinate size. Combined turbinate reduction and adenoidectomy should not be the rule because children may benefit from adenoidectomy alone.

Author Affiliations: Medical Sciences Graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Drs Brinckmann and Neto); School of Medicine (Dr Scapin) and Departments of Immunology (Dr Bernd) and Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology (Dr Neto), Fundação Faculdade Federal de Ciências Médicas de Porto Alegre; and Pediatric Otolaryngology Division, Hospital da Criança Santo Antônio de Porto Alegre (Dr Neto), Porto Alegre, Brazil.