Observation On Mucosal Secretory Elements Of OMC Area Before And After Endoscopic Sinus Surgery In Chronic Sinusitis

Objectives: To evaluate the secretory elements transformation of nasal mucosa after endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) in chronic sinusitis (CS).Methods : Thirty patients were randomly enrolled. Specimens of nasal mucosa were taken preoperatively and postoperatively in 20 cases with CS and in 10 normal subjects as controls . The post-ESS mucosa was evaluated at the 16th week when gross recovery appeared . Specimens from the middle of uncinate process were stained with Alcian blue and periodic acid-Schiff (AB-PAS) and observed under light microscope .Results: A significant increase of goblet cells and glands was observed in the sinusitis cases (p<0.01 ). In post-ESS cases, the number of goblet cells was the same as that in controls(p>0.05), but the number of glands is higher.Conclusions : 1) Goblet cell and submucosal gland hyperplasia of nasal mucosa may cause mucociliary clearing disfunction, especially the pathologic glands. 2) The repair of the nasal mucosa of sinusitis requires more time than gross recovery. 3) Post-ESS follow-up should be longer than 16 weeks to prevent recurrence.