Abstract
To evaluate the effect of chronicity on the size of the ostium after external dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) with intubation.
Design: A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent external DCR with intubation over 10 years from January 2003 at a tertiary hospital. All patients were recruited and examined with rigid nasal endoscope.
A total number of 66 (85 eyes) patients were included. The mean age at the time of evaluation was 53.1 years with gender distribution of 54 females (81.8 %). The mean duration ±SD between the date of surgery and the date of evaluation was 33.2 ± 33.6 (6-118 months). Our study showed an overall anatomical and functional success of 98.8% and 95.3%, respectively. The mean size of the ostium (±SD) was 23.0 (±15.7) mm
(ranging from 1 to 80.4 mm
). The size of the ostium was not a significant factor for failure (
= 0.907). No statistically significant correlation was found between the long-term duration after surgery and the size of the ostium (
: 0.025,
= 0.157).
Nasal endoscopy after DCR is valuable in evaluating the ostium with no observed potential correlation between the long-term follow-up after surgery and the size of the ostium.