[Indications for transnasal endoscopic and microscopic and external paranasal sinus operations. A critical...

A comparison of the paranasal sinus operations performed in 1980/1981 (n = 310) and 1988/1989 (n = 540) in the author's clinic demonstrates an impressive shift to endonasal techniques. These operations have increased from 35.4% to 74.6%. About three-quarters of the operations for chronic sinusitis were done by the endoscopic technique. In a quarter of the cases we found an extremely extensive chronic recurring polyposis indicating systemic disease. We prefer the microscopic technique for these cases. The extranasal approaches are now used more rarely in the surgery of inflammatory lesions. Nevertheless, they are still important for the treatment of complications, injuries and tumours of the paranasal sinuses, and they constitute 18.9% of all operations.