Methodologic assessment after functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

OBJECTIVES: Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) has become the procedure of choice to treat chronic rhinosinusitis. However, no standard method has been suggested to measure FESS outcome. In this study, we used different methods to measure FESS outcome, to determine which method was the most accurate. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with chronic rhinosinusitis who underwent FESS were enrolled in this study. Nasal polyps were present in 27 patients. On the day before FESS and 12 weeks after the procedure, all patients filled out a Chinese-language version of the 31-item Rhinosinusitis Outcome Measure (CRSOM-31) and received acoustic rhinometry to measure the second minimal cross-sectional area (MCA2) of the nasal cavity, as well as an endoscopic examination and a computed tomography (CT) scan. RESULTS: When CRSOM-31, MCA2, endoscopy, and CT scores were analyzed, a good correlation was observed between preoperative endoscopy and CT scores in patients with or without nasal polyposis (r = 0.459, p = 0.016; r = 0.578, p = 0.005, respectively). Postoperatively, a good correlation was observed between CRSOM-31 and CT scores in patients with nasal polyposis (r = 0.405, p = 0.036), as well as between CRSOM-31 and endoscopy scores in patients without nasal polyposis (r = 0.64, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that it is difficult to choose a method with which to measure FESS outcome accurately. However, a longer follow-up time and more patients are needed to justify these short-term postoperative results.