Ultrastructural ciliary changes of maxillary sinus mucosa following functional endoscopic sinus surgery: an image analysis quantitative study.

This was a study of the effect of functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) on the ciliary regeneration of maxillary sinus mucosa in patients with chronic maxillary sinusitis, using objective quantitative methods. Twenty specimens from the mucosa of both the superolateral wall and the ostium of the maxillary sinus were sampled during FESS and then six to 12 months later. They were light examined first by light microscopy and then by scanning electron microscopy in combination with image analysis software in order to study the cilia under higher magnification and to calculate proportion of the field that was ciliated.