Middle turbinate resection: impact on outcomes in endoscopic sinus surgery

There is considerable controversy concerning the advisability and efficacy of middle turbinate resection in endoscopic sinus surgery. Some have reported that it causes an increase in the incidence of frontal sinusitis, while others have found no such association. Surprisingly, in a 35-year review of turbinate surgery literature, Clement and White did not find a single prospective study of turbinate surgery. In this article, we briefly report our prospective study of middle turbinate resection during endoscopic sinus surgery. Our findings lead us to believe that middle turbinate resection has no deleterious effects on the results of endoscopic sinus surgery.