[Unilateral polyposis: evaluation of preoperative tests]

The aim of this paper is to study a group of patients with occupancy of a nasal fossal, apparently by polyps, and being the other side of the nose normal. Evaluating on the one hand the true incidence of unspecific polyposis and, of other diagnosis, and on the other hand to compare the preoperative radiological findings with those seen during surgery.

A prospective study of 23 consecutive patients was carried out over a period of 30 months at the ENT Department of the Dr. Peset Hospital, in Valencia. A CT scan and preoperative biopsy was performed in all cases, the results of these being later compared with the surgical findings and the final histopathologic diagnosis.

A discrepancy between the preoperative biopsy and final diagnosis was found in 26% of the patients. The incidence of polyposis was 52%, inverted papilloma 26%, malignant tumours 13% and other diagnosis 8.6%. There is a good correlation between preoperative CT scans and surgical findings in those cases of polyposis and inverted papilloma, but not in those of malignant tumours as CT scans often underestimated these lesions.