Does sinusitis play a pathogenic role in primary acquired obstructive disease of the lachrymal system?

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the etiopathogenic role of sinus inflammatory disease in primary acquired dacryocystitis and other chronic obstructive diseases of the lachrymal drainage system. STUDY DESIGN: Noninterventional controlled study. SETTING: Tertiary care center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Sixty consecutive patients with primary acquired dacryocystitis and other chronic obstructive diseases of the lachrymal drainage system, selected for endoscopic endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) and who had been ordered a preoperative sinus CT scan, had their sinus scans assessed for inflammatory naso-sinusal disease extension, using the modified Lund-Mackay system. A control group of 40 subjects was simultaneously enrolled, as a way to assess the prevalence of sinus disease in the general population. RESULTS: Chronic inflammatory sinus disease was found to be no more frequent or more extensive in DCR patients than in controls. CONCLUSION: Chronic sinusitis alone does not seem to be a causative factor to primary acquired chronic obstructive diseases of the lachrymal drainage system.