OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF ENDOSCOPIC SINUS SURGERY IN THE MANAGEMENT OFCHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS - AN UPDATE

Whilst clinical success of endoscopic surgery for chronic rhinosinusit is has necessarily depended primarily upon subjective evaluation, a ra nge of objective techniques are now available which may facilitate our interpretation of results. A group of 200 patients underwent assessme nt of symptoms by sequential visual analogue scoring, olfaction by qua litative and quantitative testing, nasal airflow by forced inspiratory peak flow, anterior rhinomanometry, nasomucociliary function by cilia ry beat frequency and nasal topography by acoustic rhinometry performe d pre- and post-operatively. Significant improvement was demonstrated in all symptoms examined, olfactory tests and ciliary beat frequency w hilst acoustic rhinometry provided an attempt to quantify the surgical cavities. These results offer an interesting perspective on the patho logy of rhinosinusitis and the rationale for surgery within the ostiom eatal complex.