The Office Diagnosis of Nasal and Sinus Disorders Using Rigid Nasal Endoscopy

Functional nasal endoscopic surgery has become increasingly popular because of the development of fiberoptic ridge nasal endoscopes. These same nasal endoscopes play an important role in the office diagnosis of nasal and sinus disorders. While not all physicians or medical institutions can afford the cost of nasal endoscopes for nasal sinus surgery, the cost of an office examination set is reasonable and the patient benefits are great. One hundred and fifty consecutive patients with nasal and/or sinus complaints and normal anterior rhinoscopic nasal speculum and posterior rhinoscopic nasopharyngeal examinations were each examined with rigid fiberoptic nasal endoscopy by two physicians to confirm each findings. Nasal endoscopy revealed fifty-eight (38.7%) patients with nasal pathology who had not been seen with traditional anterior and posterior rhinoscopic examination. The pathology found included obstructed natural maxillary sinus ostia and several pathologic disorders in the middle meatus, such as polyps and “synechiae”. Many of these patients had seen several physicians and exhibited frustrating longstanding symptoms, some of which included postnasal catarrh, postnasal drainage, headache, facial pain, “sinus”, pressure, and congestion. Nasal endoscopy can find nasal and sinus pathology that might easily be missed with routine speculum and nasopharyngeal examination. For patients with unexplained nasal sinus symptoms, the general otolaryngologist might consider rigid nasal endoscopic office examination as part of the routine office examination.