Surgery for paranasal sinus mucocoeles: efficacy of endonasal micro-endoscopic management and long-term results of 185 patients.

This study evaluates the most extensive long-term treatment outcome of paranasal sinus mucocoeles with particular emphasis on the efficacy of endonasal micro-endoscopic management. It is a retrospective, consecutive case review of 255 patients with 290 mucocoeles including 125 frontal sinus, 23 frontoethmoid, 41 ethmoid, 72 maxillary sinus and 26 sphenoid mucocoeles. The median follow-up of the patients is 12 years (range 1 - 19 years). Sixtysix percent of the mucocoeles resulted after previous sinus surgery, whereas only 1.5% developed after endonasal micro-endoscopic surgery. The median period until mucocoele appearence was 10.8 years. Two hundred one mucocoeles (69.3%) were managed endonasally micro-endoscopically, 18.6% via the osteoplastic approach, 10% endoscopically in combination with an osteoplastic procedure, and 2% according to Lynch/Howarth. Thereafter, recurrence was found in 4 patients only (2.2%). In relation to the endonasal approach the recurrence rate was 1.6%. None of the patients treated endonasally had any complication. In view of these results this paper verifies endonasal micro-endoscopic surgery as a reliable treatment with favourable long-term outcome for paranasal sinus mucocoele management, but also describes contraindications for an endonasal procedure.