Measuring outcomes when odontogenic sinusitis is treated with endoscopic sinus surgery: A systematic review

To determine outcome measurement when odontogenic sinusitis (ODS) is treated by Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (ESS).A PRISMA compliant systematic review using MeSH headings on Pubmed, Ovid and Embase. Inclusion criteria: Adults with odontogenic maxillary sinus disease undergoing ESS. Exclusion criteria: Adolescents, odontogenic disease related to; trauma, neoplasia, tumour resection, palatal cleft or fungal infection, previous sinus surgery, endoscopic surgery not involving the middle meatus.A total of 1462 papers were identified, 68 eligible for review. No randomised controlled trials were identified. Twenty‐three papers (34%) reported a successful outcome as no disease at endoscopy and reduced sinonasal symptoms; 14 papers (21%) based outcomes on endoscopy, reduced symptoms and resolution of sinus opacification or reduced mucosal thickness; 1 paper established success on reduced symptoms only and 7 papers (10%) based outcomes on radiographic findings only. Other primary measures of success were excision and closure of oro‐antral fistula, 6 (9%), removal of odontogenic cysts, 5 (7%), removal of displaced dental implants, 4 (6%), removal of displaced root of tooth, 3 (4%). Five papers (7%) reported no outcome measure. Additional measures of outcome were; retention of dental implants perforating the sinus floor, survival of sinus floor grafting with subsequent implant placement and retention of teeth with persistent apical periodontitis.Reported outcome measures were very heterogeneous. In consideration of the weak evidence base for the role of ESS in ODS management, more consistent measurement and reporting of patient symptoms, clinical and radiological signs with endoscopic findings is recommended to enable meta‐analysis.