Management of Postoperative Mucocele of the Maxillary Sinus through Endoscopic Approach

Jang, Tae Young; Lee, Seung Joon; Kim, Kyung Tae; Choi, Yoon Seok

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Postoperative mucocele of the maxillary sinus occurs as a delayed complication following Caldwell-Luc operation. Traditionally, the need for complete removal of sinus mucocele has been emphasized; in the more recent years, however, marsupialization with intranasal endoscopic approach has been advocated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the results of endoscopic surgery and Caldwell-Luc operation in managing postoperative mucocele of the maxillary sinus. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We reviewed 36 patients diagnosed as postoperative mucocele of the maxillary sinus from June 1996 to June 2002. Nineteen patients were treated by endoscopic approach and 17 patients by Caldwell-Luc operation. We compared the endoscopic approach with Caldwell-Luc operation with respect to differences in pre-operative symptoms and postoperative symptoms, hospitalization period, morbidity, operation time. RESULTS: We could manage patients of medial type and some cases of lateral type by using the endoscopic approach, and anterior lateral or inferior lateral type and complicated cases by Caldwell-Luc approach . There were no differences in symptom changes and recurrence rate between endoscopic approach group and Caldwell-Luc approach group. There were no significant complications in both groups. CONCLUSION: The selection of an appropriate approach for postoperative mucocele of the maxillary sinus should be determined by the location and bulging direction of the maxillary sinus mucocele.