Choanal polyps in children and adults: 10-year experience from a tertiary care hospital

Choanal polyps (CPs) are benign, solitary, soft-tissue lesions extending towards the junction between the nasal cavity and the nasopharynx through the choana. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate clinical and histological characteristics of CPs in children comparing to adult patients.

Characteristics of CPs treated in our hospital (demography, main complaints, side, localization, surgical approach, histological characteristics, accompanying paranasal sinus diseases, association with allergic rhinitis, postoperative follow-up period, and recurrence rates) were retrospectively reviewed.

Seventy-eight patients with CPs were included, 22 (28%) patients in children and 56 (72%) patients in adults. We found no differences in the prevalence of main nasal complaints (nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, snoring, and epistaxis) between the child and adult. In 27% children and in 7% adults, we found the oropharyngeal extension of CPs (p < 0.01). In 18% children and in 5.3% adults, we found the histological characteristics of an angiomatous CP (p < 0.05). The association with allergic rhinitis was more frequent in children (32%) than in adults (18%) (p < 0.05). In 32% pediatric patients and in 14% adult patients, we found the association with ipsilateral chronic maxillary rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) (p < 0.05). After the surgical treatment, we found the recurrence in 3 (14%) pediatric and in 5 (8%) adult patients, without the significant difference.

Our results suggest some specificities of CPs in children comparing to adults. Oropharyngeal extension, association with allergic rhinitis and ipsilateral CRS, and the presence of angiomatous histological type of CPs are more frequent in the pediatric population.