Endoscopic sinus surgery for the treatment of chronic sinusitis in geriatric patients.

Although endoscopic sinus surgery is a well-documented procedure for the treatment of chronic sinusitis in children and adults, no study has been conducted to specifically investigate its application in a geriatric population. We undertook to fill this void by analyzing the records of 1,112 patients who had undergone endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic sinusitis in our department between April 1988 and March 1998. We categorized these patients by age. There were 171 patients (15.4%) in the geriatric group (age: > or = 65 yr), 837 patients (75.3%) in the adult group (age: 17 to 64), and 104 patients (9.4%) in the pediatric group (age: < or = 16 yr). We found that the geriatric group experienced a disproportionately larger share of operative complications, but most of them were minor. Outcomes were similar in all three groups. We conclude that endoscopic sinus surgery is a safe and effective treatment for older patients with chronic sinusitis.