Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is not a life-threatening disorder but may have a great impact on the patients. This study intended to evaluate the impact of functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS), and compare the effect and quality of life (QOL) after two different surgical approaches on patients with CRS. Sixty patients of CRS were analyzed before and after FESS. The extent of disease was evaluated by the Lund-Mackay scoring system using computed tomography (CT) and endoscopy. Subjective patient QOL scores were assessed by SF-36 questionnaire and symptom scores were recorded using the SNOT-20 questionnaire. Forty patients of multiunit CRS were randomly allocated to two groups in order to be taken radical FESS (RFESS) and conservative FESS (CFESS), respectively. The Lund-Mackay score and degree of preoperative polyps did not differ statistically between the two groups. In the 1 months follow-up settings, such domains as role physical, mental health, role emotional and general health of SF-36, and total of the SNOT-20 items scores and the most important 5-item scores of SNOT-20 all began to get better markedly (P<0.05); in the 6-12 months follow-up settings, the indices of QOL and symptoms status entirely improved from the baseline, and CFESS scope surgery is no significantly difference with RFESS in improving the QOL and symptoms of patients. The results of this study suggesting that nasal polyps have a significant negative impact on the patients with CRS. FESS is a reliable and effective method for improving a patient's QOL and symptoms after 6 months of surgery, regardless of approaches.
Keywords: Chronic rhinosinusitis; functional endoscopic sinus surgery; quality of life; surgical approaches; symptoms.