Current indications for the osteoplastic flap.

INTRODUCTION AND

OBJECTIVES

Endoscopic sinus surgery is the technique of choice in most of the frontal sinus diseases, both inflammatory and tumour-related. This is why the external approach using osteoplastic flap (OF) would be limited to cases with a difficult endoscopic approach. Our aim was to review the current indications of the osteoplastic flap in the treatment of frontal sinus pathology, through a retrospective study of patients undergoing this technique.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective study of 14 patients who were treated with the osteoplastic flap procedure. All the surgical indication criteria, type of sinus disease, presence or absence of prior endoscopic surgery, surgical findings, complications and recurrence were reviewed.

RESULTS

The pathologies found were 1 osteoma (7.1%), 3 inverted papilloma (21.4%) and 10 mucoceles (71.4%). Nine patients had a prior endoscopic surgery and 10 patients had an orbital dehiscence (9 mucocele, 1 papilloma). Frontal osteoma was Grade IV and the papilloma cases were Krouse Stage III. Surgical revision was required for 21.4%.

CONCLUSIONS

The main indications for an OF in patients with inflammatory disease are lateral extension and frontal recess neo-osteogenesis. In osteoma cases, it depends on the size of the tumour. In inverted papilloma cases, the indication is multifocal implantation with origin in the anterior and lateral wall. In all cases, performing the osteoplastic flap must be individualised.