Functional endoscopic sinus surgery

ABSTRACT

The anterior ethmoid plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic maxillary and frontal sinusitis. Nasal endoscopy enables us not only to diagnose chronic ethmoiditis but also to perform endoscopic ethmoidectomy visual control. This work comprised 60 patients of chronic ethmoiditis for whom 87 operations of functional endoscopic sinus surgery were performed. The procedure comprised endoscopic clearance of the osteomeatal area [anterior ethmoid-middle meatus complex] with middle meatal antrostomy if indicated. Follow-up of these cases for periods ranging between 4 and 18 months resulted in symptomatic improvement in 96.7% of the cases with 97.55% endoscopically free ethmoid cavities. It is concluded that functional endoscopic sinus surgery is a procedure with reasonably good results: