Evaluation of Silastic Splints following Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

Middle meatal adhesions are considered the most common complication of Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS), ranging in incidence from 1 to 36%. Consequently the recurrence and persistence of symptoms increase, resulting in revision surgery in up to 25% of the cases. Although different methods have been attempted to prevent adhesions, each procedure involves some disadvantages and no standard method has been proposed. This study evaluates the efficacy of a 0.85 mm thick polymeric Silastic splint, in preventing middle meatal synechiae, in postoperative FESS patients. 12% of patients with splint had adhesions while 19.2% of patients without splint had adhesions. Splints do not appear to have a statistically significant advantage in preventing middle meatal synechiae following FESS. However, larger studies are needed to confirm this.