Does pediatric septoplasty compromise midfacial growth? A systematic review

Objective Septal deviation is an important cause of impaired nasal breathing among pediatric patients. A widespread solution to septal deviation is septoplasty. However, there are certain controversies surrounding the effect of this technique on pediatric patients and its influence on the growth centers of the nose. The objective of this review is to study if there is a strong and valid evidence in the literature that supports a detrimental effect of pediatric septo- and rhinoseptoplasty in facial growth Data sources Pubmed (Medline), the Cochrane Library, EMBASE and Trip Database. Review methods The outcome assessed was the midfacial growth after pediatric septoplasty. Results Eight publications met the inclusion criteria. None found major disturbances in facial growth. Only minor nasal anomalies were reported by 4 authors. Conclusion Septoplasty in pediatric patients does not seem to affect midfacial growth according to available evidence. However, due to their design, the degree of recommendation of these studies was not superior to level C.