Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS): Is it always a safe procedure?

Abstract

Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS) is an easy, fast and effective surgical procedure for treating rhinosinusitis that is not responsive to medical therapy. We never had major post-FESS complications up to 6 months ago. Therefore, we wanted to compare our results with those of Literature. During the period 2013-2018 we performed 589 FESS interventions. We had a percentage of minor complications similar to reported in the Literature (5-10%), and a lower incidence of major complications (0.34%). We therefore look in detail at our cases of major complications, with the support of preand post-operative imaging. We believe that it is essential to carefully study preoperative imaging. Besides operating in a standardized manner, despite the variation of anatomical features, it is the best way to prevent complications of a FESS. In a department of Otorhinolaryngology without a high-volume series like ours, the complication percentages derived from FESS are low and comparable with those of Literature. This datum is very useful, as in Literature there are numerous huge series, gathered in major world Hospitals, while the data collected in non-high-volume Centres are scarce, even if here large number of FESS is performed every year. *Correspondence to: Enrico Maria Amadei, Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Audiology, Infermi Hospital, Rimini, Italy, Tel: +39 3283625727; E-mail: enricomaria.amadei@libero.it