Revision endoscopic sinonasal surgery

Endoscopic sinonasal surgery is the procedure of choice in the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis and sinonasal polyposis refractory to medical treatment, with high rates of success (76% to 97.5%). However, 2.5%-24% of those patients will require revision surgery (RESS). In this study, we present the clinical, anatomical, radiological and histological features of patients receiving RESS in our centre during a 3-year period.

A retrospective review of clinical, anatomical, radiological and histopathological data of patients receiving revision endoscopic sinonasal surgery between 2012 and 2014 was carried out.

From 299 surgery procedures performed, 27 (9%) were revision surgeries. The mean patient age was 46 years, with a male/female ratio of 1.4/1. The most frequent preoperative and postoperative diagnosis was chronic polypoid rhinosinusitis. The mean time since the previous surgery was 6.1 years, with 11.9 months of mean follow-up since that surgery. Stenotic antrostomy was found during revision in 81.5% of the patients and incomplete anterior ethmoidectomy and persistent uncinate process, in 59.3%. In radiology, 70.4% of patients had persistent anterior ethmoidal cells. Antrostomy or widening of antrostomy was performed in 96.3% of cases and anterior ethmoidectomy or completion of it was performed in 66.7%.

Polyps, stenotic antrostomy and incomplete ethmoidectomy were the most frequent causes of revision surgery, in concordance with the procedures performed. The patients had long periods of time without follow-up between surgeries. Further investigation is necessary to generate measures to reduce the number of revision surgeries.