Endoscopic Radiofrequency Ablation-Assisted Resection of Juvenile Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma: Comparison with Traditional Endoscopic Technique

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of radiofrequency surgical instrumentation for endoscopic resection of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) and to test the hypothesis that endoscopic radiofrequency ablation-assisted (RFA) resection will have superior intraoperative and/or postoperative outcomes as compared with traditional endoscopic (TE) resection techniques.

Study design: Case series with chart review.

Setting: Two tertiary care pediatric hospitals.

Subjects and methods: Twenty-nine pediatric patients who underwent endoscopic transnasal resection of JNA from January 2000 to December 2014.

Results: Twenty-nine patients underwent RFA (n = 13) or TE (n = 16) JNA resection over the 15-year study period. Mean patient age was not statistically different between the 2 groups (P = .41); neither was their University of Pittsburgh Medical Center classification stage (P = .79). All patients underwent preoperative embolization. Mean operative times were not statistically different (P = .29). Mean intraoperative blood loss and the need for a transfusion were also not statistically different (P = .27 and .47, respectively). Length of hospital stay was not statistically different (P = .46). Recurrence rates did not differ between groups (P = .99) over a mean follow-up period of 2.3 years.

Conclusion: There were no significant differences between RFA and TE resection in intraoperative or postoperative outcome parameters.