Effect of use of mitomycin C on the outcome of Choanal atresia repair.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effectiveness of topical mitomycin C (MMC) on outcome of endoscopic repair of choanal atresia (CA) in cases that had never had this operation and when nasal stent was not used.

METHODS

Endoscopic repair of CA was performed in 20 children at King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between January 1999 and October 2005. Intra-operative application of topical MMC (0.4 mg/mL for 4 minutes) was carried out in 13 children, and 7 children did not receive MMC. The follow-up period ranged between 9 months and 6 years. The association between the 2 categorical variables was investigated using Fisher's exact test.

RESULTS

Sixty-nine percent of the cases receiving MMC had a successful outcome compared with 57% of non-MMC cases, however, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.230). In unilateral CA, 70% of those who received MMC had a successful outcome compared with 60% of those who did not; again the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.566). Successful outcome was considered when the posterior choana was patent during the successive follow up, without the need for revision surgeries.

CONCLUSION

We did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference between the percentages of children treated with MMC versus no-MMC who remained patent after surgery.