title: Canine fossa puncture in endoscopic sinus surgery: report of two cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis is a common chronic disease that often affects maxillary sinus. Endoscopic sinus surgery is the most common procedure for treating the majority of maxillary sinus lesions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To demonstrate the role of canine fossa puncture during endoscopic sinus surgery procedure in patients with severe maxillary sinus disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present 2 cases where canine fossa puncture has been performed as method to obtain a complete access to the maxillary antrum.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According our experience, 2 cases on 296 endoscopic sinus surgery (0.6%) where antrostomy and used of angled microdebrider were not sufficient, canine fossa puncture has been performed as an alternative method to obtain a complete access to the maxillary antrum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the advent of endoscopic sinus surgery, our cases support the fact that actually canine fossa puncture is a minimally invasive technique useful in selected cases.
authors.affiliation: University of Palermo, Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences (BioNeC), Otorhinolaryngology Section, Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: federicosireci@hotmail.it.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sireci
authors.affiliation: SS Antonio Biagio e Cesare Arrigo Hospital, Otorinolaryngology Section, Alessandria, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nicolotti
authors.affiliation: University of Insubria, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Battaglia
authors.affiliation: SS Antonio Biagio e Cesare Arrigo Hospital, Otorinolaryngology Section, Alessandria, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sorrentino
authors.affiliation: University of Insubria, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Castelnuovo
authors.affiliation: SS Antonio Biagio e Cesare Arrigo Hospital, Otorinolaryngology Section, Alessandria, Italy.
authors.forename: Frank Rikki
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Canevari
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008443:Maxillary Sinus / Q000601:surgery*; D009298:Nasal Polyps / Q000601:surgery; D011677:Punctures; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Angled microdebrider; Antrostomia meatal média; Canine fossa puncture; Maxillary sinusitis; Microdebridador angular; Middle meatal antrostomy; Punção da fossa canina; Sinusite maxilar