Prospective Study of Sinonasal Outcome Following Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery.

BACKGROUND

Endoscopic endonasal surgery (EES) requires wide sinonasal dissection to achieve adequate visualisation of anatomical landmarks. This can also result in nasal sequelae like crusting, nasal discharge, and anosmia.

AIM: To use the sinonasal outcome test (SNOT) 22 questionnaire to study the postoperative sinonasal morbidity and its recovery in patients who have undergone EES.

MATERIALS AND METHOD: Prospective study conducted from November 2017 to May 2018. SNOT-22 questionnaire was administered on patients operated between before EES and then re-administered during outpatient visits at 1 month, 3 months, and 6-12 months following surgery.

RESULTS

Results of 46 patients were analyzed. The mean duration of follow-up was 11.8 months. The mean preoperative SNOT-22 score was 2.69 ± 4.95. SNOT-22 score at 1 month was 5.52 ± 6.77, at 3 months follow-up was 0.39 ± 1.02, and after 6 months was 0.30 ± 1.00. In 32 patients with a nasoseptal flap, mean preoperative score was 3.34 ± 5.68 (P = 0.18), one month following surgery it was 6.68 ± 6.88 and at 3 and 6 months following surgery it was 0.56 ± 1.19 and 0.38 ± 1.15. The mean preoperative nasal domain score was 1.022 (±2.13), the postoperative 1 month score was 2.3 ± 3.7, at 3 months following surgery was 0.22 ± 0.82 and after 6 months of surgery was 0.28 ± 0.96.

CONCLUSION

Patients undergoing EES experienced transient worsening of SNOT 22 scores in the first month following surgery and recovered within 3 months of surgery. The improvement was sustained in follow-up visits beyond 6 months of surgery.