Intranasal Sinus Surgery—A Historical Overview

Aim: To present a historical review on intranasal sinus surgery.

Materials and Methods: Literature search and medical history books were used as scientific sources.

Results: The first intranasal operation was described by von Miculicz in 1886 who reported opening the antral cavity through the middle meatus. Both inferior and middle meatus antrostomy were familiar procedures to surgeons even from the early 1900s, although their efficacy was a matter of debate for many years. As the surgical techniques improved, gross lesions of the antral mucosa and polyps could be removed. Intranasal ethmoidectomy for chronic ethmoiditis was first described by Mosher in 1912. Many surgeons suggest that total ethmoidectomy must include opening of the sphenoid sinus and an antrostomy, while others leave the sphenoid sinus intact. Many surgical modifications to these views have been proposed, but functional endoscopic sinus surgery eventually became the method of choice for the majority of intranasal procedures.

Conclusions: Intranasal sinus surgery has come a long way since the first years of the 19th century. Technical developments of the medical devices and increased knowledge of the pathophysiological mechanisms of sinonasal diseases have made functional endoscopic sinus surgery the treatment of choice in many nasal diseases, although the debate on how extensive the operation should be still exists.