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When to operate on baby adenoids?
The adenoids problems are common in young children. They primarily affect children aged 2 to 5 years. The good news is that they are treated much better today than in the past. However, complications can still occur in the most severe cases. It is therefore better not to take the baby adenoids problems lightly !
What is the role of baby’s adenoids?
When we talk about ” vegetations ”, We normally refer to adenoids, granulations located above and behind the child’s nasal passages. These granulations multiply from birth until the age of 1 year, 1 year and a half on average. Until the age of 6-7 years, they act as a protective barrier for the child’s body. Indeed, the child adenoids retain various viruses, bacteria, parasites and other pathogens before they reach its respiratory system. If the baby is still infected, the vegetations boost his immune system to help him heal. Subsequently, the granulations regress until they completely disappear around the age of 10 years on average.
The baby adenoids therefore basically have a positive function. Unfortunately, if the child is too often confronted with pathogens and multiplies the infections, they end up going awry. They then attack the child’s body! Between overproduction of pus and inflammation of the eustachian tubes, baby will be constantly subject to various illnesses! It is most often bronchitis, sore throat and ear infections: problems that should push you to have the child examined! Note that recurrent ear infections are particularly dangerous… They can indeed damage the eardrum, causing hearing loss in babies. They can also, but rarely, cause facial paralysis in children.
How do you diagnose adenoids in children?
What immediately puts the doctor on the track is of course the recurrent baby illnesses ! To confirm the diagnosis, there is only one solution: examine the child’s nasal passages. This usually requires an endoscopic examination. Technically, an endoscope, a kind of tiny tube fitted with an objective at one end, is inserted into a baby’s nostril. The endoscopic objective transmits the images live on a screen. The doctor can thus make his diagnosis.
In case of repeated infections, should the baby’s adenoids be removed?
The most common treatment currently is based on immunostimulants. By strengthening a baby’s immune system, these medicines reduce the number of infections a baby develops. Result: the baby adenoids have less work to do and do not go wrong!
In rare cases, this treatment remains ineffective. It is then necessary to have recourse to thesurgical removal of the child’s adenoids ou adenoidectomy. This is not a total ablation: the doctor will remove the largest part but leave the “base” of the vegetations. It’s better for the child’s immune system! This technique is mainly used for otitis or strep throat with repetition. It is generally effective. Its use in recurrent nasopharyngitis is, on the other hand, controversial. Recent studies have indeed shown thatadenoidectomy gave hardly any positive results in this case.