Does sinusitis play a pathogenic role in primary acquired obstructive disease of the lachrymal system?

OBJECTIVES To investigate the etiopathogenic role of sinus inflammatory disease in primary acquired dacryocystitis and other chronic obstructive diseases of the lachrymal drainage system. STUDY DESIGN Noninterventional controlled study. SETTING Tertiary care center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Sixty consecutive patients with primary acquired dacryocystitis and other chronic obstructive diseases of the lachrymal drainage system, selected for endoscopic endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) and who had been ordered a preoperative sinus CT scan, had their sinus scans assessed for inflammatory naso-sinusal disease extension, using the modified Lund-Mackay system. A control group of 40 subjects was simultaneously enrolled, as a way to assess the prevalence of sinus disease in the general population. RESULTS Chronic inflammatory sinus disease was found to be no more frequent or more extensive in DCR patients than in controls. CONCLUSION Chronic sinusitis alone does not seem to be a causative factor to primary acquired chronic obstructive diseases of the lachrymal drainage system.