Paranasal sinus BCD represents a tool that has been shown to be safe in the management of pCRS; however, its efficacy compared to standard treatment regimens has not been well established.
The main objective of doing this meta-analysis was to evaluate the clinical utility of BCD in pCRS.
Articles reporting BCD for pCRS in patients under 18 years of age were identified via the following search terms: sinusitis OR rhinosinusitis AND balloon dilatation OR balloon dilation OR balloon sinuplasty OR rhinoplasty AND adolescent OR children OR infant OR pediatric OR toddler.
In total there were 80 studies that were abstracted. After the initial screening, there were 10 studies included for final qualitative analysis after dual investigator screening. There were a total of 3 studies describing BCD with surgical controls, including adenoidectomy, saline irrigation, or maxillary antrostomy. Noninferiority was not demonstrated in 2 of 3 studies.
The study concluded through its findings that there is a lack of published evidence regarding the role of BCD in PCRs. Two of the 3 included studies demonstrated the inferiority of BCD when compared to other standard surgical interventions, whereas meta-analysis was unable to detect any statistically significant difference between standard treatment regimens.
Reference: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1945892420917313
