Five 'nontraditional' techniques for use in patients with recalcitrant sinusitis

Although endoscopic sinus surgery remains the mainstay of surgical approaches to treating paranasal sinus disease, some disease may require alternative approaches. We review here five techniques: endoscopic middle turbinectomy, maxillary sinoscopy, the Caldwell-Luc procedure, intranasal inflammatory polyp steroid injection, and frontal sinus trephine.

Recent findings suggest that endoscopic sinus surgery is limited in certain cases to access particular anatomic sites that may contain disease. The anterior, inferior maxillary wall and the frontal sinus may be accessed externally with minimal morbidity, and this access may be critical to treating the disease. The middle turbinate can contribute to preoperative and postoperative obstruction of sinus drainage, and resection of it can benefit the patient in many ways. Finally, the management of intranasal inflammatory polyps remains a challenge. In both preoperative and postoperative patients, the polyps may not respond to standard and even aggressive topical therapies. Intrapolyp steroid injection can provide a substantial anti-inflammatory effect and may avoid surgery for some patients.

This article will review five ancillary procedures that add to the rhinologist's skill set to treat difficult or recalcitrant paranasal sinus disease.