Low-temperature plasma adenoidectomy versus conservative treatment for children with adenoid hypertrophy and allergic rhinitis: A non-randomized observational study.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of low-temperature radiofrequency ablation (LTRFA) adenoidectomy on the improvement of allergic rhinitis (AR) in children with adenoid hypertrophy (AH) complicated by AR, in comparison with conservative pharmacological management.MethodsA total of 89 pediatric patients with AH complicated by AR were enrolled in this non-randomized observational study. Among them, 59 underwent LTRFA adenoidectomy under nasal endoscopy, and 30 received conservative anti-allergic therapy (patients who declined surgical intervention). Symptom severity was assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS; score 1-10) at baseline and at 6 months of follow-up. Improvement was defined as a reduction in VAS score of ≥3 points from baseline. Between-group comparison of VAS change scores was performed using an independent-samples t-test.ResultsBaseline VAS scores were comparable between groups (surgical: 7.85±1.46; conservative: 7.63±1.52; P=0.512). At 6 months, the mean VAS change score was 4.95±1.90 in the surgical group and 2.51±1.44 in the conservative group, a difference that was statistically significant (P<0.001). Based on the improvement criterion (VAS reduction ≥3 points), 52 of 59 surgical patients (88.1%) and 17 of 30 conservative patients (56.7%) met the threshold (χ2=11.30, P<0.001).ConclusionsIn children with AH complicated by AR, LTRFA adenoidectomy was associated with significantly greater improvement in nasal symptom scores at 6 months compared with conservative treatment. These findings suggest that LTRFA adenoidectomy may be a beneficial treatment option; however, given the non-randomized design and limited follow-up duration, further randomized controlled trials with objective outcome measures are needed to confirm these preliminary observations.