EFFECT OF SINUS SURGERY ON QUALITY-OF-LIFE

Although sinus surgery may reduce the incidence of recurrent infection in patients with chronic sinusitis, little is known about the effect of such surgery on a patient's quality of life, One hundred eight pati ents undergoing ethmoid sinus surgery were prospectively evaluated wit h statistically validated measures of sinusitis-specific and general h ealth-related quality of life. Twelve months after surgery significant improvements were found in sinus-specific health status, including a reduction in symptoms (p < 0.001) and medication usage (p < 0.001), An overall improvement was found in 82% of patients, whereas 11% were wo rse, and 7% remained unchanged, Measures of general health status demo nstrated preoperative decrements in five of eight subscales as compare d with the normal population. Six months after surgery significant imp rovements were noted in six categories (p < 0.05), and most attained n ear-normative levels, Individuals with asthma demonstrated greater ove rall improvement in general health status than did other cohorts (p < 0.05), We conclude that patients with chronic sinusitis achieve large improvements in sinusitis-specific quality-of-life measures 12 months after sinus surgery, as well as improvements in general health status.