Abstract
It is acknowledged that many causes of failures in endoscopic sinus surgery are related to scarring and narrowing of the maxillary antrostomy. We assessed the effect of low-pressure spray cryotherapy in preventing the maxillary antrostomy stenosis in a chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) rabbit model. A controlled, randomized, double-blind study was conducted on 22 New Zealand rabbits. After inducing unilateral rhinogenic CRS, a maxillary antrostomy was performed and spray cryotherapy was employed on randomly selected 12 rabbits, while saline solution was applied to the control group (n = 10). The antrostomy dimensions and the histological scores were assessed 4 weeks postoperatively. The diameter of cryotreated antrostomy was significantly larger at 4 weeks than that in the control group. At 4 weeks, the maxillary antrostomy area in the study group was significantly larger than the mean area in the control group (103.92 ± 30.39 mm² versus 61.62 ± 28.35 mm², P = 0.002). Submucosal fibrous tissues and leukocytic infiltration in saline-treated ostia were more prominent than those in cryotreated ostia with no significant differences between the two groups regarding the histological scores. Intraoperative low-pressure spray cryotherapy increases the patency of the maxillary antrostomy at 4 weeks postoperatively with no important local side effects.