[Extended outcome assessment in endonasal sinus surgery].
BACKGROUND
Endonasal optically guided surgery has gained wide acceptance for treatment of chronic sinusitis. However, irrespective to the advent of minimally-invasive techniques, standard outcome assessment has not always reflected the increased technical and conceptual efforts. "Psychometric" instruments offer additional information on patients' perceptions of health. We analyzed the practical value of an extended outcome assessment.


METHODS
Standardized interviews were carried out with 103 patients pre- and postoperatively applying several psychometrical instruments ("SF-36" and other valid general health-status instruments besides disease-specific questionnaires, providing 124 items/questions altogether).


RESULTS
The diverse changes of subtle health status subscores as a rule paralleled each other and were concordant with traditional self-estimated global ratings of the surgical success by the patient. Significant postoperative changes of the "SF-36" questionnaire were especially seen in the subscale "bodily pain" and "level of energy". With few exceptions only, items reflecting any indirect burden of chronic sinusitis revealed less pronounced improvements postoperatively.


CONCLUSIONS
It appears legitimate to question the special benefits of extended psychometric outcome research in comparison to traditional global ratings for daily surgical practice.
Hosemann
W
W
Klinik für Hals-Nasen-Ohrenkrankheiten, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie der Universität Greifswald. hosemann@uni-greifswald.de
Schwab
N
N
Praetner
L
L
Breme
K
K
Beule
A
A
Kaftan
H
H
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012016:Reference Values; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*