No abstract

For many years the value of various operations on patients with chronic hyperplastic sinus disease for the relief of asthma has been a greatly debated problem. There has been and remains a marked difference of opinion between the proponents of the conservative treatment of asthma and those of the radical type of surgical intervention. It is planned to report here the effect of the pansinus operation on thirteen patients with markedly advanced chronic hyperplastic pansinusitis associated with asthma. In every case the operation consisted of a bilateral fronto-ethmosphenoidectomy and the Caldwell-Luc operation. This extensive surgical procedure was not done on account of the asthma but was performed primarily for the relief of symptoms of the sinus disease\p=m-\thatis, severe headache, marked nasal discharge or toxemia\p=m-\ and to lessen the probability of the development of complications, such as meningitis or abscess of the brain. ETIOLOGIC RELATIONSHIP OF SINUS DISEASE TO ASTHMAUntil recent years chronic sinus disease has been generally regarded as a frequent cause of asthma. As a result the sinuses have been attacked by all the various types of operation, both conservative and radical, with the hope of curing the asthma. With this in mind some writers 1 have reported marvelous success in the relief of asthma by means of operation on the sinuses.