Endoscopic frontal sinus obliteration: a new technique for the treatment of chronic frontal sinusitis.

OBJECTIVES Patients who fail endoscopic drainage procedures for chronic frontal sinusitis often require obliteration of the frontal sinus with abdominal fat. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an endoscopic technique for frontal sinus obliteration. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING Retrospective case-control. Thirty-five patients underwent frontal sinus obliteration using either an endoscopic (n=10) or conventional osteoplastic flap (n=25) technique from 1994 to 2004 at an academic medical center. RESULTS Patients undergoing endoscopic obliteration had less blood loss (P = 0.006), decreased operative time (P = 0.016), and a shorter hospital stay (P = 0.003) compared to osteoplastic control subjects. All 3 surgical complications occurred in the control group. No patients required additional surgery for frontal sinusitis. CONCLUSIONS The endoscopic approach to frontal sinus obliteration appears to reduce patient morbidity and should be considered in the surgical management of advanced frontal sinus disease. SIGNIFICANCE This is the first report of a minimally-invasive technique for frontal sinus obliteration.