Tratamento cirúrgico para aspiração

Postoperative acute respiratory insufficiency following adenotonsillectomy in children with neuropathy

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate the incidence of acute respiratory insufficiency (ARI) in the immediate postoperative period following adenotonsillectomy in children with neurological diseases.

METHODS

Medical records from all pediatric adenotonsillectomies performed from January 1997 through August 2003 at the Roberto de Abreu Sodré Hospital of the Association for the Welfare of Physically Handicapped Children (AACD) in São Paulo were reviewed. Data were collected for patient age, neurological diagnosis, associated comorbidities, index of respiratory insufficiency in the immediate postoperative period and period of hospitalization.

RESULTS

One hundred and nine patients charts had sufficient documentation to be included in this study. Of these, 15 (13.7%) developed ARI in the immediate postoperative period. Ages ranged from 1 to 12 years old (average of 5). Of the 15 patients that presented ARI, 10 (67%) were intubated in the first 3h following extubation. The predominant neurological diagnosis was non-progressive chronic encephalopathy, observed in 84 children (77%), and, among that, 14 (17%) presented ARI. Other neurological diagnoses present in this study were Rett syndrome, neuromuscular disease and meningomyelocele. All of the children that developed ARI presented quadriplegia. Among children that did not develop ARI, the predominant motor pattern was: 28 with quadriplegia, 38 diplegia, 10 hemiplegia, 12 with involuntary movement (choeroathethosis) and six without motor involvement. Children presenting ARI needed mechanical ventilation for an average of 37.87 h (1.5 days) in the intensive care unit. ARI increased the period of hospitalization; these children had an average length of stay of 7 days versus 1.5 days for those that did not develop complications.

CONCLUSION

Children with neurological disorders, especially those with quadriplegic pattern of motor involvement and severe oropharyngeal dysphagia, are at higher risk for respiratory insufficiency in immediate postoperative period of adenotonsillectomy and should be observed in intensive care unit.

[Efficacy of rehabilitation in oropharyngeal dysphagia]

BACKGROUND

efficacy of rehabilitation in oropharyngeal dysphagia. In our country the practice of speech-language pathology in oropharyngeal dysphagia has increased significantly and, at this moment, deserves attention since practice needs to be based on scientific evidence. Therapeutic techniques and the outcome of rehabilitation in oropharyngeal dysphagia have been studied since the 70s, reaching its high point during the 80s and 90s. Few studies have investigated the efficacy of therapy in the rehabilitation of oropharyngeal dysphagia, the vast majority have tried to prove the effects of therapy on the dynamics of swallowing. In Brazil, the studies about oropharyngeal dysphagia have, in great part, investigated assessment procedures, and only a few have worried about rehabilitation.

AIM

to present a critical analysis about the efficacy of rehabilitation in oropharyngeal dysphagia.

CONCLUSION

this review of the literature indicates that non-randomized studies have compromised the results, once the casuistic of the researches are very heterogeneous--they include neurogenic and mechanical oropharyngeal dyshagia caused by different etiologies. Besides that, therapeutic programs which are used are not sufficiently described, compromising the reproduction of the methodology by other researchers. These results suggest the need for more randomized studies, which can be initially developed as case studies in order to exclude the control variables of therapy efficacy. Another suggestion is, as proposed by present researches, to use scales that can measure the impact of swallowing training in the nutritional and pulmonary condition of dysphagic patients. An important research area, related to the control of therapeutic efficacy and efficiency, are the studies that aim to establish the decrease in hospital and home care costs as a consequence of speech-language intervention with patients with oropharyngeal dyspahgia.