Endoscopic and Caldwell-Luc Approach in Chronic Maxillary Sinusitis: Intraoperative and Early Postoperative Results

Endoscopic and Caldwell-Luc surgical approaches in 150 consecutive patients (aged 14–88 years) suffering from chronic maxillary sinusitis were compared. The patients were randomly subjected either to functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FES) with middle meatal antrostomy (n = 75) or to the Caldwell-Luc (C-L) operation (n = 75). In the FES group intraoperative bleeding was significantly lower than in the C-L group. There were no major complications during or after surgery in either group. Moderate or marked postoperative facial swelling and fever were more common in the C-L patients and also the need of analgetics was more frequent among them. One month postoperatively the antral irrigation findings did not differ between the groups, but C-L operated patients expressed more frequently distinct complaints than FES patients (P < .001).