Endoscopic vs external dacryocystorhinostomy in cases of deviated nasal septum and-or turbinate hypertrophy

Abstract EN

Background : dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) is a surgical procedure that improves lacrimal system drainage by establishing a lacrimal drainage channel into the nasal cavity.

external DCR and endoscopic DCR for the treatment of primary acquired nasolacrimal duct blockage in the context of deviated nasal septum and / or hypertrophy of the turbinates were compared.

patients and methods : this study included 60 patients complaining of epiphora due to nasolacrimal duct obstruction (NLDO).

patients were subdivided into two groups ; group A included 30 patients submitted to endoscopic DCR and group B included 30 patients submitted to external DCR.

results : the right eye was afficted more frequently than the left.

right eye involvement was 63.6% and left was 36.4 % .

excessive intraoperative bleeding occurred in 5 cases (16.5%) in group a and 9 cases (29.7%) in group b.

the difference was not statistically significant.

(p value = 0.39).

28 of 30 eyes (93.3%) that had endoscopic DCR surgery and 20 of 30 eyes (66.7%) that underwent external DCR surgery had a successful surgical outcome after six months.

the difference was significant as p value = 0.009.

conclusion : DCR is better performed by endoscopic approach especially in cases of deviated nasal septum and / or turbinate hypertrophy.

endoscopic DCR is a safe, less invasive method with superior outcomes compared to external DCR.