Assessment of quality-of-life outcomes after surgery for nasal polyposis with the DyNaChron questionnaire.

This prospective study assesses outcomes at 6 weeks and 7 months after radical ethmoid surgery in 65 patients with nasal polyposis using a new and detailed instrument, the DyNaChron questionnaire, which was filled in the day prior to surgery and at 6 weeks and 7 months after surgery at follow-up visits. Before surgery, the leading bothersome symptoms were olfactory disturbances (7.74 ± 2.81) and nasal obstruction (6.66 ± 2.28). After surgery (6th week and 7th month), there was a clear improvement of all symptoms including nasal obstruction, olfactory disturbances, anterior rhinorrhea, postnasal discharge, facial pain/headache and cough in comparison to baseline (p < 0.0001). Nasal obstruction was the most improved symptom (effect size of 2.24). At 7th post-operative month, the sense of smell continued to improve slightly. By contrast, the postnasal discharge score that was significantly improved at 6th post-operative week tended to worsen at 7 months (p = 0.0045). Before surgery, strong psychosocial impacts were observed in association with nasal obstruction and anterior rhinorrhea. The physical impacts of each symptom were proportionally correlated to the symptom score before and after surgery. The quality of life (QOL) related to each symptom was clearly better at 6 weeks and remained steady at 7 months after surgery. In conclusion, olfactory disorders and postnasal rhinorrhea were the main remaining symptoms after sinus surgery despite a global improvement of symptoms and quality of life. The earlier time point to stabilize QOL outcomes of endoscopic sinus surgery could be suggested at 6 weeks after surgery.