Otolaryngology Research Programs

The division of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Nemours/AI DuPont Hospital for Children has a variety of ongoing research projects.  A sampling of current studies includes:

Dr. Patrick Barth, co-director of the airway program and the Voice Center, has an R01 research grant along with Dr. Joseph Dohar of University of Pittsburgh examining the cognitive and physical traits that enhance or diminish children’s response to voice therapy, with the aim of creating a developmental roadmap showing when children are most likely to benefit from voice therapy.

Dr. Jenna Briddell, who leads the tracheostomy care team at Nemours, has several research projects related to improving outcomes for children with tracheostomies.  A current project includes examining factors associated with decannulation failure.  She is investigating the impact of simulation-based tracheostomy training on home care giver skills and tracheostomy related complications rates and is part of a multi-institutional study examining outcomes of tracheostomy in extremely premature infants.  With a bioengineering background, Dr. Briddell is also working with the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware regarding 3D printing of pediatric airways for improved aerosol therapeutics. 

Drs. Schmidt and Nardone, with an interest in airway and sleep, are examining the outcomes of transoral robotic surgery for lingual tonsillectomy for children with persistent obstructive sleep apnea after adenotonsillectomy. Several faculty members are examining the impact of Toradol on bleeding after adenotonsillectomy and the long-term outcomes of intracapsular tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. 

Health literacy and quality improvement projects have included Drs. Aaronson and Nardone examining the impact of using text messaging to relay postoperative information to families regarding commonly encountered symptoms after ear tube insertion and adenotonsillectomy. Dr. Aaronson is also looking at correlating airway findings on dynamic CT with bronchoscopy findings to see if dynamic CT can be used for surveillance in asymptomatic airway patients.

Dr. Parkes, who directs the cochlear implant team, has a focus on outcomes research in pediatric otology, including cholesteatoma surgery, auditory neuropathy, and pediatric cochlear implantation. He and Thierry Morlet, PhD, are combining fNIRS and eye-tracking measures to examine dynamic changes in neuroplasticity and language skills in deaf and hard-of-hearing infants.  He is also interested in the identification of CMV infection in neonates who fail the newborn hearing screen and CMV-related hearing loss.

Faculty PubMed Bibliography

•  Nicole Aaronson, MD
• Patrick Barth, MD
• Jenna Briddell, MD
• Heather Nardone, MD
• William Parkes, MD
• James Reilly, MD
• Udayan Shah, MD
• Richard Schmidt, MD