[Experience in the surgical treatment of paranasal sinus mucoceles in a university hospital]

Abstract

Background: Mucoceles are benign cystic lesions of the paranasal sinuses. Endoscopic marsupialisation is considered the first choice of treatment, due to its low morbidity and recurrence rates.

Objective: To establish the number of patients with recurrence, who were diagnosed clinically or by computed tomography, and who were submitted to surgery in the Ear, Nose and Throat Unit in a tertiary university hospital.

Material and methods: A clinical, cross-sectional, descriptive, observational and retrospective study was conducted on patients with a mucocele diagnosis operated on in the period from January 2006 to December 2013. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed to obtain the frequencies, ratios and proportions. Measures of central tendency and dispersion were obtained. The recurrence rates of each surgical technique were compared using the Chi-squared test.

Results: Of the 59 patients included in the study, 39 were female and 20 were men. The most common location was in the maxillary sinus (22 patients) followed by frontoethmoidal (20 patients). There was a recurrence of 9% in those submitted to a surgical procedure. The endoscopic approach was used in 51 patients, 8 cases were combined (open plus endoscopic), and there was no open approach. There was a recurrence in 7 of 51 of patients with endoscopic surgery, and one out of 8 patients had a recurrence with a combined technique.

Conclusions: No statistically significant relationship was found between the type of surgery and recurrence, or between the presence or absence of a predisposing factor and recurrence.

Keywords: Mucoceles; Paranasal sinus; Senos paranasales; Surgical treatment; Tratamiento quirúrgico.