Sialendoscopy-assisted surgery and the chronic obstructive sialadenitis symptoms questionnaire: A prospective study.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: To prospectively assess symptoms of obstructive sialadenitis before and after sialendoscopy-assisted salivary duct surgery (SASDS) using the chronic obstructive sialadenitis symptoms (COSS) questionnaire to determine and predict impact of interventions.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.

METHODS: Adult patients with chronic obstructive sialadenitis who underwent SASDS were asked to complete the COSS questionnaire and the Short-Form-8 (SF-8) quality-of-life (QOL) survey prior to surgery and 3 months postoperatively. Chronic obstructive sialadenitis symptoms surveys were scored on a scale from 0 to 100.

RESULTS: Forty patients undergoing SASDS, including 54 glands, completed preoperative and postoperative surveys. Overall, the mean COSS score improved from 36.1 (standard error of the mean [SEM] 2.6) preoperatively to 13.5 (SEM 2.4) 3 months postoperatively (p < 0.001). Submandibular gland cases had a significant mean score reduction of 27.8 (from 38.1 to 10.3; p < 0.005). Parotid gland cases had a significant mean score reduction of 13.6 (from 32.6 to 19.0; p < 0.0001). Patients with sialolithiasis-related sialadenitis had greater COSS score improvement after surgery than those with radioactive iodine- or inflammatory-related disease. An improvement in symptoms was seen for 100% and 47% of patients with sialolithiasis and inflammatory etiologies, respectively. The pre- and post-SASDS SF-8 QOL scores were not significantly different.

CONCLUSIONS: Obstructive sialadenitis-related symptoms significantly declined 3 months after SASDS. The COSS questionnaire was able to measure changes in sialadenitis symptoms not captured in the SF-8 QOL survey. This is the first study to prospectively survey sialadenitis-specific symptoms to determine impact of surgical interventions.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4. Laryngoscope, 126:1343-1348, 2016.