A six-month analysis of frontal sinus drainage pathway in patients with frontal sinusitis after balloon sinuplasty

Abstract

Background: The balloon catheter has been used for a decade to dilate paranasal sinus outflow tracts. The question is: how wide and how durable is the dilation of drainage pathways in patients in long-term observations after this procedure?

Objective: The objective of our study was to observe the changes occurring in the frontal sinus drainage pathway (FSDP) in patients with frontal sinusitis at least 6 months after surgery using balloon catheters in an isolated procedure.

Materials and methods: We analyzed and measured the FSDP width on computed tomography (CT) of 23 images before and after the use of balloon catheters. We also assessed mucosal changes using Zinreich’s scale, and symptom improvements with the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-20).

Results: A statistically significant difference in the width of the FSDP was found before and after sinuplasty in the study group (p ≤ .0016). On average, the FSDP increased by 24.1%. Clinically meaningful and statistically significant (p ≤ .0002) symptom improvement as indicated by the mean SNOT-20 score was observed. Mucosal changes were also statistically significant (p ≤ .0018) after surgery.

Conclusion: The findings at least 6 months after follow-up indicated that the use of balloon catheters in an isolated procedure allowed durable modeling of FSDP and was associated with radiological and clinical improvements.

Chinese abstract

结论: 在随访后至少6个月的发现表明, 在单一手术中使用球囊导管使得我们可以对额窦引流通路 (FSDP) 建立持久模型。该法与放射和临床上的改善相关。

背景: 气囊导管用来扩张鼻旁窦流出通路已有十年了。问题是: 在这种手术后的长期观察中, 患者的引流通路的扩张有多宽、持续多久？

目的: 我们的研究目的是, 手术后至少6个月, 对在单个手术中使用气囊导管的后额叶窦炎患者的FSDP发生的变化进行观察。

材料和方法: 我们分析和测量在使用气囊导管前后23张计算机断层扫描 (CT) 图像上的FSDP宽度。我们还使用Zinreich量表来评估粘膜变化, 并使用鼻腔结果测试 (SNOT-20) 来评估症状改善。

结果: 我们发现在椎管成形术之前和之后, 研究组中的FSDP宽度有着显著的统计学差异 (p < = 0.0016) 。平均而言, FSDP增加了24.1%。我们观察到平均SNOT-20评分所示的具有临床意义的和统计学意义的 (p <0.0002) 症状改善。手术后黏膜变化也有统计学意义 (p < = 0.0018) 。

Keywords:

• Frontal Sinusitis
• frontal sinus drainage pathway
• balloon catheter
• outcomes

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.