Frontal sinus obliteration--a successful treatment option in patients with endoscopically inaccessible frontal mucoceles

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates non-standardized subjective patient satisfaction- and clinical outcome variables following frontal sinus obliteration with abdominal fat in endoscopically inaccessible mucoceles.

METHODS: In a retrospective chart review, all patients who underwent frontal sinus obliteration for endoscopically inaccessible mucoceles at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich between 1996 and 2006 were identified and the postoperative outcomes were evaluated by a non-standardized patient questionnaire rating the degree of symptoms before and after surgery. Additionally, the postoperative clinical status and MRI-scans were analysed in a subgroup of patients.

RESULTS: Nine out of 10 patients were generally satisfied with the obliteration. Most had a significant improvement in their main symptoms and reported a decrease in annual days of missed work and a reduced use of disease-specific drugs. The sense of smell and the intensity of postnasal dripping remained subjectively unchanged. Seventy percent of patients complained about temporary pain at the abdominal donor side.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on these results, osteoplastic frontal sinus obliteration using abdominal fat seems to be a successful treatment option in patients in whom mucoceles of the frontal sinus are not endoscopically accessible.