Assessment of pain level and quality of life in children after otosurgical interventions

A personalized approach is particularly important in modern pediatric practice, as postoperative pain and surgery-related negative emotions can have a significant impact on a child's physical, emotional and social functioning. Otosurgical interventions are typically accompanied by pain, limitations in daily activities, and temporary hearing loss. Due to this, quality of life assessment is an important component of postoperative monitoring. OBJECTIVE: To carry out a comparative assessment and analysis of pain and quality of life in children after middle ear surgery performed using the endoscopic transcanal and microscopic retroauricular approaches. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 45 children with chronic suppurative otitis media with cholesteatoma, divided into two groups: a group with the endoscopic transcanal approach and a group with the microscopic retroauricular approach. Quality of life assessment was performed 1 month after surgery using four modules of the validated Pediatric Quality of Life (PedsQL) questionnaire. Painful sensation assessment was performed using the Wong-Baker pain rating scale over four postoperative days. RESULTS: Physical functioning indicators remained high in all patients, but declined in adolescents. Emotional functioning deteriorated proportionally with age. The endoscopic transcanal approach group demonstrated higher quality of life scores, especially in emotional and social functioning. The lowest level of changes was observed in children of the youngest age group. CONCLUSION: Endoscopic transauricular approach for sanitizing surgical interventions in children is associated with more favorable quality of life indicators compared to the microscopic retroauricular approach, as well as with less severe pain in the postoperative period. Further studies with larger samples are needed.