Nasal endoscopy: its role in office diagnosis

To clarify the role of nasal endoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment planning for patients with nasal or sinus complaints, 100 consecutive new patients were evaluated. Patients were excluded if their only complaint was obstruction and they had a septal deviation as the only clinical finding. Each patient underwent a thorough history and head and neck examination, including anterior rhinoscopy before and after decongestion, and the diagnosis and treatment plans were documented. Each then underwent nasal endoscopy, and the diagnosis and treatments were compared. The most common diagnoses after anterior rhinoscopy were allergic rhinitis (21), nonallergic rhinitis (12), chronic sinusitis with polyps (19) or without polyps (9), and nonsinus pain (13). Nasal endoscopy played a role in 11% of patients, although in no case did endoscopy change the diagnosis or treatment plan. Endoscopy allowed visualization past an enlarged turbinate or septal deviation in six patients, confirmed a suspected diagnosis in three by visualization of the middle meatus, and detected the site of a large choanal polyp in one. In one case, endoscopy identified a paradoxical turbinate on the side opposite the symptoms and radiological findings. Routine nasal endoscopy need not be part of the evaluation of all patients with nasal sinus disorders but is particularly valuable in confirming diagnoses, particularly in patients where anterior rhinoscopy is limited by anatomic obstruction.