Surgical causes of failure in endoscopic sinus surgery

Objectives: Evaluate causes of surgical failure at time of revision endosco pic sinus surgery, Study Design: Prospective review of 682 cases that had e ndoscopic sinus surgery performed between 1991 and 1995, Methods: In all ca ses, variables of age, sex, asthma, allergy, computed tomography stage, ass ociated procedures, complications, and operative findings were collected. T hose cases that had a failure after a previous endoscopic sinus procedure a nd not an intranasal procedure or an external procedure were evaluated. Res ults: Fifty-two patients (7.6%) were identified. The age range was 24 to 70 years. The most common cause of failure was residual air cells and adhesio ns in the ethmoid area (30.7%), followed by maxillary sinus ostium stenosis in 27%, frontal sinus ostium stenosis in 25%, and a separate maxillary sin us ostium stenosis in 15% of the cases. Conclusion: Review of surgical caus es of failure in endoscopic sinus surgery patients revealed that residual a ir cells and stenotic maxillary or frontal sinus ostium were the most commo n causes of failures.