Partial Endoscopic Middle Turbinectomy Augmenting Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

Abstract

At the fall national meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery in Kansas City, Mo, William R. LaMear, MD, William E. Davis, MD, and Jerry W. Templer, MD, University of Missouri, Columbia, discussed their rationale for incorporating partial endoscopic middle turbinectomy as a standard component of functional endoscopic surgery for inflammatory disease of the paranasal sinuses. Based on an experience of 298 patients followed up for as long as 3 years, LaMear et al determined that patients undergoing partial endoscopic middle turbinectomy had cumulative success rates, determined by patency of the middle meatomy with no synechiae formation, up to 50% higher at 36 months postoperatively than those patients who underwent the procedure without partial middle turbinectomy. Based on their experience, these researchers feel middle turbinectomy with preservation of the middle turbinate attachment enhances surgical exposure, specific anatomic anomalies are more completely corrected, and subpopulations of patients at