Nasal antral windows in children: a retrospective study.

A retrospective study of 39 patients with 46 sets of bilateral nasal antral windows was undertaken to assess the effect of this procedure on chronic sinusitis in children. All patients had symptoms of sinusitis for at least 3 months with plain radiographic documentation of maxillary sinus disease. Only medical failures were surgical candidates. Forty percent of the patients were improved at 1 month, but the success rate at 6 months decreased to 27%. It was necessary to repeat the nasal antral window procedure because of recurrent or persistent sinusitis in 7 of 39 patients. An additional 11 patients required endoscopic ethmoidectomy and maxillary antrostomy. Based on this experience, the nasal antral window procedure does not appear to be effective in treating chronic sinusitis in children.