Resolving Perplexity: Comparison of Endoscopic Dacryocystorhinostomy With and Without Stent

Endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) is an effective surgical procedure to treat nasolacrimal duct obstruction. This study was conducted with an aim of comparing the success rate between use of stent and without use of stent in endoscopic DCR. A prospective randomized study was conducted. Total 50 cases with signs of nasolacrimal duct blockage were included. The cases were randomly divided in two groups with 25 cases in each group. Group A cases underwent endoscopic DCR with stent and group B without stent. The follow up was till 12th week. Both subjective and objective outcomes were noted. By 12th week, only 8% cases had no relief of symptoms in group A while 92% cases of group A and all cases of group B had complete relief of symptoms. In objective outcome, by the 12th week, in group A 92% cases had full patency while in group B 100% cases had full patency. Overall complications in postoperative period were seen in 28% patients in group A and 12% patients in group B. In this study the surgical results of endoscopic DCR with or without stent came almost equal with no statistical difference in the success rate between stent group and non-stent group. Now that Endoscopic DCR without stent is equally effective and reduces cost, we recommend that the endoscopic DCR without stent should be preferred.