Clinical and pathological characteristics of antrochoanal polyps / 中国耳鼻咽喉头颈外科

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To study the clinical and pathological characteristics of antrochoanal polyps. METHODS From Oct. 1998 to Sept. 2004, 1023 cases(1895 sides)of chronic sinusitis and/or nasal polyps were treated with endoscopic sinus surgery. Forty-six patients were diagnosed with antrochoanal polyps; all had a unilateral lesion. The average age of these patients was 15a. The polyps from these patients were fixed in formalin and embedded in paraffin. The sections were cut,stained with HE and observed under light microscope. RESULTS All 46 patients were cured after following up for more than 1 year. The antrochoanal polyps were usually unilateral and appeared in younger patients. The main symptom was nasal obstruction. Macroscopically,they had a cystic intramaxillary portion and a solid intranasal portion. Microscopically,the polyps were covered by pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium. The inflammatory cell infiltration in submucous tissue was mainly that of neutrophil cells with few eosinophil cells. Edema and cyst were also found in the submucous tissue. CONCLUSION The pathological findings and clinical features of the antrochoanal polyps indicate that antrochoanal polyps has a different pathogenesis compared with the usual nasal polyps. It should be named antrochoanal cysts rather than antrochoanal polyps.