Publication:

Radiological findings and clinical features for the diagnosis of adenoid hypertrophy: a study from Iraq

Background Adenoid is a prevalent condition among children. Adenoidectomy has been done based on clinical symptoms. The purpose of this study is to determine the agreement between clinical features of adenoid enlargement, X-ray and adenoid size.

Methods Hundred symptomatic children were enrolled into this study at ENT. Department of Al-Bin Sina teaching hospital in Mosul city of Iraq. History was taken, clinical examination for adenoid enlargement and skull X-ray (lateral view) were performed for all children with assessment of adenoid size 1 day before operation.

Results The respondent composed of 5% male children and 46% females with average age of 6 years. Adenoid facies were the most frequent presentation followed by snoring then nasal obstruction. Around 64% had positive otoscopic findings and another 58% had hearing impairment and only 22% had ear discharge. All of the clinical findings showed (100%) sensitivity and specificity vary from (64%) to (90%). The accuracy rate for clinical   features ranged from 92% to 98%. X-ray findings show a low accuracy rate (92%) in comparison to others.

Conclusions Clinical findings could be used to select children for adenoidectomy, especially when endoscopic examination is not available or cannot be performed.