This randomized prospective study looked at children between 3 and 17 years old who had sleep-disordered breathing and nasal obstruction. The researchers compared adenotonsillectomy alone against adenotonsillectomy combined with submucosal ablation of the turbinates. The group receiving the additional turbinate procedure started with higher preoperative scores on the nasal quality of life survey.
At both 3 months and 12 months, there was no statistically significant difference in the reduction of nasal quality of life scores between the two groups. The p-values were .707 at 3 months and .225 at 12 months. No adverse events or discontinuations were reported in this small sample of 51 patients.
The main reason to be careful is that the study was small and the groups were not perfectly balanced at the start. It remains uncertain whether adding turbinate surgery provides extra improvement in nasal symptoms compared to adenotonsillectomy alone. Future research should include an assessment of sleep-disordered breathing symptom burden to better understand the role of this additional procedure.