Maxillary Antrostomy Versus Complete Sinus Surgery for Odontogenic Sinusitis With Frontal Sinus Extension

Endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) is often necessary when managing odontogenic sinusitis (ODS), but ESS extent for ODS with extramaxillary sinus involvement has been incompletely studied. This study compared outcomes after wide maxillary antrostomy (MA) alone versus complete ESS for ODS with frontal sinus involvement.

A multicenter prospective cohort study was conducted on patients with uncomplicated ODS (no extrasinus spread) who underwent ESS when computed tomography demonstrated maxillary, anterior ethmoid (AE), and frontal sinus opacification. Multiple preoperative and postoperative variables were recorded, including 22-item sinonasal outcome tests (SNOT-22) and endoscopic findings. Ultimate SNOT-22 and endoscopic resolution, and time to SNOT-22 and endoscopic resolution were compared between patients who underwent MA alone versus "complete" ESS (maxillary, ethmoid, frontal; not sphenoid).

Of 70 patients, mean age was 59.2 years, and 55.7% were male. Thirty-five underwent MA alone, and 35 had complete ESS. At first postoperative visits (mean 9.3 days), AE sinus purulence was more likely resolved after complete ESS compared with MA (97.1% vs. 71.4%, p = 0.006). However, time to resolution of AE purulence was comparable by 6 weeks postoperatively (p = 0.158). There were no significant differences in times to foul smell resolution and achieving ≥9 point SNOT-22 reduction (p > 0.05).

For ODS with frontal sinus involvement, MA alone and complete ESS both resulted in rapid and long-term symptomatic resolution. While ultimate resolution of sinus purulence was equivalent between surgery groups, complete ESS did lead to faster resolution of frontoethmoidal purulence in a significant number of cases.

2 Laryngoscope, 135:586-592, 2025.