S. Elwany et al., The effect of endoscopic sinus surgery on mucociliary clearance in patients with chronic sinusitis, EUR ARCH OT, 255(10), 1998, pp. 511-514
The saccharin test was used to measure mucociliary clearance in 50 patients
with symptoms of chronic sinusitis. Samples of the nasal mucosa were also
examined under transmission electron microscopy before and after functional
endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). Before surgery, the mean saccharin cleara
nce (ST) was 37.0 +/- 15.7 min, with nasal mucosa exhibiting ciliary loss a
s well as other ultrastructural changes. Three months after surgery, the me
an ST had improved to 20.3 +/- 7.5 min and significant regeneration of cili
a was observed. It was therefore concluded that FESS had successfully corre
cted mucociliary dysfunction in these patients.