Pediatric nasolacrimal duct intubation using deep sedation outside the operating room- comparison of three types of stents.

BACKGROUND

Congenital nasolacrimal duct obstructions that persist after 9 months of age often require surgical intervention through probing and stenting of the tear duct. These procedures typically occur under general anesthesia in an operating room setting. We propose a novel approach using intravenous sedation outside the operating room.

METHODS

We reviewed the medical records of patients at a tertiary pediatric hospital treated for nasolacrimal duct obstruction from 2018 to 2023 using monocanalicular Monoka, Masterka, and LacriJet nasolacrimal stents. All procedures were performed outside of the operating room under intravenous sedation provided by a specialized sedation team. Symptom resolution, sedation duration and complications were reviewed for each type of stent.

RESULTS

A total of 64 patients (81 stents) were included in our analysis. Of the 81 stents used, 32 were Monoka, 15 Masterka, and 34 LacriJet. Symptoms resolved in 86% of the eyes. Sedation side effects were minor and infrequent. Occasionally brief apnea, hypoxia, hypotension or laryngospasm occurred, but in no cases were patients harmed or was hospitalization required. A single factor analysis of variance showed no statistically significant difference between the stents for recurrence or sedation time. The Fisher exact test suggested a higher risk of side effects in the Monoka group.

CONCLUSIONS

In our pediatric patient cohort, nasolacrimal duct stenting procedures have a high success rate and safety profile when performed under deep sedation outside of the operating room.