Intranasal surgery of the maxillary sinus.

Abstract

THE MAXILLARY sinuses are the most important of all the nasal sinuses. They are frequently infected, even in children, and with every infection of these sinuses there is always some extension of the infection to the ethmoid cells and often to the frontal sinus. Thirty years ago it was commonly taught that the antrum was frequently infected by a downward flow of secretion from infected ethmoid cells or the frontal sinus, the antrum serving as a large cistern, catching the secretions from the sinuses above. It is now known that the reverse extension of infection is more apt to occur. If iodized oil is placed in the antrum and the patient's head is then lowered for even the matter of minutes, roentgenograms will show that the oil has migrated to the frontal sinus and ethmoid region. 1 This clearly indicates what may happen when a patient with an acutely infected