Abstract
Chronic frontal sinus disease has always been a difficult problem to treat. We undertook this study to evaluate our results of frontal recess surgery, to determine the factors which affected the surgical outcome and to determine whether the post-operative findings correlated with the symptomatic improvement in the patients. Twenty-four patients with chronic sinus pathologies involving the frontal sinus were included in this study. After failure of maximal medical treatment, they were subjected to endoscopic surgery. The factors assessed included the pneumatisation of the frontal recess on CT scan, the technique of surgery, the intra-operative frontal glow, the state of the frontal recess at the end of surgery, the appearance of the recess on follow-up endoscopy and the symptomatic relief in the patients. 81.2% of well pneumatised frontal recesses had a good outcome while only 42.1% of the poorly pneumatised frontal recesses had a good outcome. 76.2% of cases with a frontal glow seen intra-operatively had a favourable surgical result while 44.4% of cases without a frontal glow intra-operatively had a favourable surgical result. Two-thirds (66.7%) of cases with mucosa-lined frontal recess did well post-operatively while only 33.3% of cases with a raw frontal recess did well following surgery. Well pneumatised frontal recesses, presence of an intra-operative frontal glow and a mucosa-lined frontal recess corresponded with better post-surgical outcomes. A difference in the intra-operative technique did not influence the result after surgery. Nineteen out of 24 patients (79.2%) were asymptomatic after surgery while 5 patients had residual symptoms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Har-El G, Lucente FE (1995) Endoscopic intranasal frontal sinusotomy. Laryngoscope 105:440
Kennedy DW, Josephson JS, Zeinreich SJ et al (1989) Endoscopic sinus surgery for mucoceles: a viable alternative. Laryngoscope 99:885
Kuhn FA (1996) Chronic frontal sinusitis: the endoscopic frontal recess approach. Oper Tech Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 7:222
Metson R (1992) Endoscopic treatment of frontal sinusitis. Laryngoscope 102:712
Schaefer SD, Close LG (1990) Endoscopic management of frontal sinus disease. Laryngoscope 100:155
Knapp A (1908) The surgical treatment of orbital complications in disease of the nasal accessory sinuses. JAMA 51:299
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bradoo, R.A., Shah, K.D. & Joshi, A.A. Factors Affecting the Outcome of Frontal Sinus Surgery: A Prospective Study. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 65 (Suppl 2), 260–266 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-011-0415-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-011-0415-3