THE EFFECT OF MIDDLE TURBINATE RESECTION UPON THE FRONTAL-SINUS

Diversity of opinion exists among otolaryngologists regarding the impo rtance of preserving the middle turbinate during sinus surgery. The pu rpose of this study is to determine whether or not middle turbinate re section has a bearing upon postoperative disease within the frontal si nus. In this retrospective analysis of 110 consecutive patients with c hronic or recurrent acute sinusitis, 69 tense group) had previous midd le turbinectomy and 41 patients (control group) had intact middle turb inate after prior sinus surgery. In 42 patients, CT scans were scored and defined as having either mild-moderate or severe disease. Frontal sinusitis seen on CT scan was present in 75% (30 of 40) of case sides and 45% (9 of 20) of control sides, and this difference was significan t (P < 0.05). The height of middle turbinate resection was measured, a nd there was no statistical difference in frontal sinusitis between pa tients with high and low resection. Therefore, this work does not supp ort the concept that middle turbinate resection results in a lower inc idence of frontal recess disease.