THE CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE OF FUNCTIONAL ENDOSCOPIC SINUS SURGERY - A NATIONWIDE SURVEY

Recent years have seen a rapid growth in the practice of functional en doscopic sinus surgery (FESS). Its introduction into clinical practice has, however, been conspicuous by an absence of good scientific evide nce that it is superior to previous techniques. This postal questionna ire survey aimed to identify the diversity in the practice of FESS at a national level and, as a result, highlights areas of patient managem ent requiring standardization. All full members of the British Associa tion of Otolaryngologists-Head and Neck Surgeons (BAO-HNS) were contac ted, 64% responded: 14% of surgeons do not always perform preoperative computerized tomography (CT) scanning; only 25% use grading systems f or symptoms and/or CT assessment; a wide variety of topical agents are used both before and after operation; nearly half (47%) no longer ope rate principally under endoscopic vision but via TV monitors; and the majority of surgeons review patients more than 1 week after surgery wi th a minority advocating earlier postoperative assessment.