Results
There were 112 patients (39 JO-RRP
patients and 72 AO-RRP patients)
met inclusion criteria, and a total
of 353 surgical procedures were included. The average age was 7.4(JO-RRP
patients) and 46(Ao-RRP patients), respectively. The female–male ratio
is 16:23 in Jo-RRP patients, and 19:54 in Ao-RRP patients. There were
181 procedures performed in Jo-RRP group, with either the
microdebrider(n=152), CO2
laser(n=18), or KTP laser(n=11), and 172 procedures were performed in
Ao-RRP, with either the microdebrider (n=46), CO2 laser(n=102), or KTP
laser(n=24). It can be seen that
surgeons prefer to use microdebrider in Jo-RRP treatment and CO2 laser
in adult patients.
The treatment intervals(days) in the JO-RRP
population(median[P25-P75],
99[50,205]) was shorter compared to AO-RRP
population(median[P25-P75],
230.0[132.0,455.0])(p<0.05)(Fig.1A). Besides,
the JO-RRP patients
had higher Derkay anatomical
score(mean [SD], 13.0[6.2]) than AO-RRP patients(mean [SD],
6.95[4.90]) (p<0.05)(Fig.1B), and it is conceivable that
there were more Jo-RRP patients with
dyspnea symptom at the first
visit(17/39, 43.6%) compared to AO-RRP patients(8/72, 11.1%). JO-RRP
patients had significantly worse disease burden at initial procedure
compared to AO-RRP patients. These findings corroborate previous studies
suggesting a more aggressive disease course in children, which
necessitates more regimented intervals until the child’s airway has
grown. The most susceptible anatomical site of lesions is the glottis in
both of these two groups, followed by the supraglottic and subglottic.
However, postoperative pathological result of each procedure showed that
the proportion of histopathology containing dysplasia in JO-RRP
group(7/181, 3.9%) was smaller than that in AO-RRP group(105/172,
61.0%) (Table I.).
We also performed subgroup analyses
according to the surgical modalities(Table II). In addition to age of
onset, disease regression measured by the Derkay scoring system was
comparable among the treatment groups. For the pediatric patients, the
treatment intervals(Days) in the microdebrider group
(median[P25-P75],
92.5[47.3~200]), CO2 group
(median[P25-P75],
140[70~255]), KTP group
(median[P25-P75],
90[62.3~221.3]). For the adult patients, the
treatment intervals(Days) in the microdebrider group
(median[P25-P75],
267.50[152.5,449.5]), CO2 group
(median[P25-P75],
247.5[145.5,474.7]), KTP group
(median[P25-P75],
107.5[68.3,330.5]). CO2 laser surgery
represented the longest treatment
interval both in Jo-RRP and Ao-RRP patients, but no significant
differences were found among three
subgroups(p>0.05)(Fig.2).
The recurrence trends of patients
used three different surgical modalities were no significant
difference(p>0.05), but Jo-RRP group has a clearly earlier
trend in recurrence than Ao-RRP group(p<0.05)(Fig.3). That is
to say, three surgical modalities appeare to be equally effective in
management of Jo-RRP or AO-RRP, which is encouraging for institutions
that do not have laser modalities readily available. Other factors of
decision-making on surgical modalities need to be focused in future
studies.