FRONTAL-SINUS SURGERY .1. ENDONASAL FRONT AL-SINUS DRAINAGE FOR INFLAMMATORY SINUS DISEASE

Most conditions of the frontal sinus requiring surgery can now be mana ged successfully by endonasal procedures. According to Draf, 3 types o f frontal sinus drainage occur. Surgical techniques and indications ar e described. In a retrospective study we evaluated 132/648 patients wh o were on average 5 years postoperative. Forty-two patients had type 1 , 43 patients had type 2 and 47 patients had type 3 drainage. Endoscop y revealed a normal mucosa in 56-67%, whole polyps were found in 9-15% . There was no recurrence of an orbital or endocranial complication. A ccording to our definition of surgical success, there was a success ra te of 83.4% with type 1 drainage, 83.7% with type 2 drainage and 89.4% with type 3 drainage. If there was only little chance for succesful e ndonasal surgery with type 3 drainage, an external osteoplastic fronta l sinus operation was performed for definitive therapy.