Endoscopy-assisted, transoral submucosal coblation for pediatric retropharyngeal lymphatic malformations

Objective: Retropharyngeal lymphatic malformations (LMs) are uncommon congenital anomalies. Open surgery, sclerotherapy and various pharmaceutical agents have been described to manage these lesions. However, when such lesions involve the retropharyngeal space with evidence of airway compromise, none of the above aforementioned modalities has shown superior result without repeated imaging and procedures. We describe the use of radiofrequency ablation (Coblation) in an endoscopic-assisted, transoral approach as a one-off treatment for pediatric retropharyngeal lymphatic malformations.

Methods: Six patients with retropharyngeal lymphatic malformations, presented with airway compromise, were treated with endoscopic-assisted, transoral submucosal coblation in our unit between April 2015 to August 2018. We retrospectively reviewed their medical records, imaging and endoscopic findings.

Results: Five out of our six patients had LMs involving only the retropharyngeal space, who received the coblation as their sole treatment. One patient with extensive LMs involving multiple neck compartments received coblation to the retropharyngeal part as an adjunct procedure. The average operation time was 62.8 min, and the average intraoperative blood loss was 3.8 ml. All patients were safely extubated immediately after the surgery. None required admission to pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), nor prolonged dysphagia reported. They were observed for 2-5 days post operatively. The average follow up was 28 months (1-5 years) and none required re-operation to date.

Conclusions: We presented our approach and outcome of 6 children with endoscopic-assisted, transoral submucosal coblation to retropharyngeal lymphatic malformation. We believe it is a safe and effective primary treatment to these patients, and a possible adjunct to complex vascular malformation involving multiple sites.