Endoscopic Dacryocystorhinostomy With Modified Mucosal Flap Technique

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the success of mucosa-sparing surgery with a modified inverted U flap in endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (E-DCR). Forty-two patients who underwent E-DCR without mucosal flap were included in group 1, and 41 patients who underwent E-DCR with modified inverted U mucosal flap technique were included in group 2. The patients were followed up for at least 12 months postoperatively, and the complications and functional success in both groups were analyzed comparatively. The functional success rate was 81% in group 1 and 95.1% in group 2. The difference between the 2 groups is statistically significant ( P =0.04). Postoperative granulation tissue development was observed in 9 patients (20.4%) in group 1 and in 2 patients (4.88%) in group 2, and the difference was statistically significant ( P =0.02). Mucosa-sparing E-DCR with modified inverted U flap achieves higher functional success than flapless surgery and causes less granulation formation.