[A modified technique for transsubmucosal maxilloethmoid sinus surgery through the inferior...

In 1993, in the Journal of the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, the authors published an endoscopic endonasal approach to surgery for chronic sinusitis, performing a transsubmucosal maxillectomy, ethmoidectomy and sphenoidectomy through the inferior turbinate, which the authors tentatively termed "swinging of the nasolacrimal duct and inferior turbinate." With the original technique, some bony structure was left partially exposed during resection of the mucosa in some patients, who suffered from postoperative crust formation. This technique thus required improvement. To solve this problem, the authors made an antero-posterior incision along the inferior turbinate during submucosal turbinectomy. This technique has solved most of the problems and greatly reduced postoperative crust formation, thereby considerably reducing the time for postoperative wound healing as compared with that seen with the original technique. The authors report herein on this surgical technique and indication, an improvement on the original method.