Effectiveness of Evaluation of Adenoid Hypertrophy in Children by Flexible Nasopharyngoscopy Examination (FNE), Proposed Schema of Frequency of Examination: Cohort Study

Objectives: To demonstrate the effectiveness of endoscopic assessment of the pharyngeal tonsil in defining the size of the adenoid hypertrophy in endoscopic examination that would be equivalent to intraoperative assessment as a large adenoid, and to determine the lowest necessary frequency of tests to assess the variability of its size. Methods: The study is based on an analysis of two groups of children diagnosed and treated in a children's ENT outpatient clinic and ENT department. In the first group, adenoid size was assessed based on flexible endoscopy, and then with a consequent adenoid surgery with assessment of the intraoperative size of the adenoid, we compared the size of the adenoid. The second part of the study included a group of 81 children. We analyzed performed flexible nasopharyngoscopy examinations (FNE) of each child, and compared the change of adenoid size in a minimum of two subsequent examinations over a period of 1 year or more. Results: The sensitivity of flexible endoscopic examination in the assessment of the pharyngeal tonsil was determined at 97.3%, and specificity at 72.7%. The ROC curve shows the value of adenoid-to-choana (A/C) ratio as 75% or more in the preoperative FNE, indicating that the tonsil during surgery is assessed as large. Among the children, 26.3% had a change in adenoid size of more than 15% in the A/C ratio in 1 year of observation, and 45% of the children had A/C ratio changed above 15% in a period of 3 years of observation. Conclusions: FNE examination is highly effective in assessing the size of the pharyngeal tonsil. We proposed a schema for frequencies of FNE examinations and treatment dependent on A/C ratio and worsening of ailments.

Automated summary

The study aims to assess the effectiveness of endoscopic examination in evaluating the size of the pharyngeal tonsil and determine the minimum necessary frequency of tests. Results showed that flexible endoscopic examination has high sensitivity and specificity in assessing the size of the pharyngeal tonsil.