A prospective observational study was conducted consisting of 21 patients of Juvenile-onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, attending the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery at our institution, who underwent surgical excision of the papillomas followed by oral acyclovir postoperatively. The study was aimed to observe the effect of systemic acyclovir on postoperative outcomes in children having recurrent respiratory papillomatosis undergoing primary surgical excision. It was observed that the mean interval between surgeries as well as the number of surgical interventions required was significantly lesser when acyclovir was used as a postoperative adjuvant than when surgery was done alone. Hence, the interval between successive surgeries, or in other words, the time interval between relapse of the disease could be prolonged significantly with the use of postoperative systemic acyclovir. Thus, the disease could be controlled for longer periods and repeated surgeries avoided.
Keywords: acyclovir; human papilloma virus; microlaryngeal surgery; respiratory papillomatosis.