Annals of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (ISSN 2835-7132) | Volume 3, Issue 3 | Case Report | Open Access DOI
Camryn Marshall BS*
Camryn Marshall BS1*, Avraham Adelman BS1, Akinyemi Ajayi MD2, David Mandell MD1
1Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, USA
2Children’s Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists, USA
*Correspondence to: Camryn Marshall BS
Fulltext PDFIntroduction: Lingual tonsil hypertrophy (LTH) is a possible cause of childhood obstructive sleep apnea after adenotonsillectomy, especially in patients with trisomy 21, but its role in chronic cough and exercise induced shortness of breath in non-syndromic patients is less well-established. As such, lingual tonsillectomy is rarely performed. This study is a preliminary exploration of the role of lingual tonsils and subsequent lingual tonsillectomy in pediatric patients with chronic respiratory-related symptoms refractory to more traditional therapies.
Methods: Twelve children were referred by a pediatric pulmonologist with chronic upper airway symptoms unresponsive to traditional treatments, and for whom the only abnormal finding on flexible bronchoscopy was LTH. Endoscopic lingual tonsillectomy was subsequently performed, and the post-operative response was assessed.
Results: All patients saw preoperative symptom resolution one month after surgery. One patient experienced symptom recurrence and LTH again after one year but has seen symptom resolution 14 months after surgical revision. One patient subsequently underwent palatine tonsillectomy due to symptom persistence two years later. There were no intraoperative complications and only one patient experienced mild and self-limited pharyngeal bleeding eight days postoperatively.
Conclusion: Lingual tonsillectomy proved to significantly resolve chronic respiratory related symptoms when no other treatment had in this case series, implicating LTH in difficult-to-treat symptoms, including chronic cough, throat-clearing and shortness of breath. Though sample size is a limitation, this study suggests that the role of the lingual tonsils should not be overlooked in patients with these types of symptoms.
; Lingual tonsil; Hypertrophy; Upper-Airway Obstruction; Tonsillectomy
Camryn Marshall, Avraham Adelman, Akinyemi Ajayi, David Mandell. Solitary Lung Metastasis of the Internal Auditory Canal: A Case Report. Annal of Otol Head and Neck Surg. 2024;3(3):1-9.