title: Endoscopically assisted balloon dacryocystoplasty and silicone intubation versus silicone intubation alone in adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the success rate of endoscopically assisted balloon dacryocystoplasty (DCP) and silicone intubation (DCP-SI) with endoscopically assisted silicone intubation alone (SI) in adults with incomplete nasolacrimal duct (NLD) obstruction. METHODS. In a retrospective nonrandomized comparative case series, 62 eyes of 55 adult patients with incomplete NLD obstruction underwent endoscopic probing and either SI (n=39 eyes) or DCP-SI (n=23 eyes) under general anesthesia. The last follow-up examination included diagnostic probing and irrigation if there was not success. Success was defined as disappearance of the symptoms and failure as partial improvement or absence of improvement at last follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients ranged from 20 to 85 years of age (mean: 60.93, SD: 15.60). Tubes were removed between 6 and 20 weeks (mean: 7.49, SD: 2.25) postoperatively. Follow-up ranged from 6 to 63 months (mean: 14.60, SD: 10.33). Success rate of the eyes with SI (21/39, 53.84%) and DCP-SI (14/23, 60.86%) were not statistically different (p=0.60). Complications included slight nasal and canalicular bleeding in almost all eyes in both groups which was easily controlled, slit punctum in four eyes with bicanalicular intubation (4/50, 8%), and monocanalicular tube lost in three eyes prematurely.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Success rate of endoscopic DCP-SI had no statistically significant difference from silicone intubation alone in treatment of incomplete NLD obstruction in adults.
authors.affiliation: Oculoplastic Unit, Eye Research Center, Rassoul Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Sattarkhan-Niayesh Street, Tehran 14455-364, Iran. bahmanik@yahoo.com
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kashkouli
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Beigi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tarassoly
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Kempster
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002404:Catheterization; D003608:Dacryocystorhinostomy / Q000379:methods*; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007440:Intubation / Q000379:methods*; D007767:Lacrimal Duct Obstruction / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009301:Nasolacrimal Duct; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012826:Silicone Elastomers; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D012826:Silicone Elastomers