Objective: 1) To evaluate the effectiveness and side-effects of endoscopic surgical treatment for maxillary sinus fungus balls, and to describe approaches to limiting recurrence of the disease and surgical complications. 2) To compare the results of this nasal endoscopic treatment with the results of treatment using a vestibular approach to the anterior wall of the maxillary sinus as described in the literature.
Patients and methods: An institutional retrospective review was conducted for patients undergoing treatment for a maxillary sinus fungus ball using endonasal surgery alone from January 2005 to December 2010.
Results: A total of 100 patients were included in the study (58 women and 42 men, average age 54 years). The median follow-up time was 32 months. Three patients had a recurrence after our team performed endonasal surgery. No patients experienced complications.
Conclusion: Our results are consistent with previous findings, indicating that the postoperative complication rate for endonasal surgery is low by comparison with the vestibular approach. Both techniques have similar outcomes. The nasal endoscopic route offers similar rates of success with a negligible complication rate.