subject: Sinus Surgery Is Nothing To Sneeze At [print this page] Chronic rhinosinusitis affects up to 16% of Americans, with annual direct costs of $4.3 billion, the researchers noted. That includes about 500,000 surgical procedures a year. Research has shown that endoscopic sinus surgery improved outcomes for a majority of patients, but many studies were limited by retrospective design and unvalidated outcomes. For previous prospective studies, small sample size was a limiting factor. To address those limitations, the researchers enrolled 438 patients at three sites between July 2004 and December 2008. Patients were evaluated before and after surgery, using CT scanning, endoscopy score, and both the Rhinosinusitis Disability Index and the Chronic Sinusitis Survey.
After loss to follow-up, results from 302 patients -- with an average of 17.4 months of postoperative follow-up -- were analyzed for this study, Smith and colleagues said. Analysis found:
*On average, patients improved by 15.8% (or 18.9 points) on the Rhinosinusitis Disability Index, which was significant at P