Results of endoscopic assisted probing for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction in older children

Primary probing for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction with manually curved Bowman probes

“…Some authors performed simple NLD probing and some combined probing with inferior turbinate fracture 11,13. Nasal endoscopy was also used in some studies 6,14. Patient characteristics may affect the surgical results of probing 15.…”

“…Surgical techniques and tools chosen by different surgeons during probing may affect the results of probing and have not yet been studied. Some surgeons use straight Bowman probes6 and some suggest curved Bowman probes to mimic the curve of the bony nasolacrimal pathway in children 7…”

Pediatric endonasal endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy

“…In case of inferior canalicular stenosis, tearing disappeared after the retrieve of the stent but reappeared only temporarily during a viral rhinitis. The duration of the follow-up for the primary DCRs was 10.5 months (range: [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…This is usually done by the ophthalmologists without concomitant nasal endoscopy [7]. An endoscopically assisted probing performed by a team comprising an ophthalmologist and an ENT surgeon is more effective [7][8][9][10]. The success rate is about 90%.…”

Is it necessary to accompany probing with endoscopy in cases of congenital nasolacrimal canal obstruction?

“…Endoscopically treated cases contributed to the overall success by 17.31%. They reported that lacrimal probing remains the primary treatment and nasal endoscopy is a useful adjunct to probing increasing the success rate of the procedure [15].…”