Endoscopic-guided probing for the management of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction

Abstract

Purpose This study aimed to assess the value of direct visualization during probing of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction using nasal endoscopy and its effect on the success rate. Patients and methods This is a prospective interventional case series including 34 eyes of 26 patients who presented with congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction and treated with probing under direct visualization using nasal endoscopy. Observations were recorded. Results This prospective interventional case series included 10 female children (38.46%) and 16 male children (61.54%), mean age 15.6 ± 2.1 months. Endoscopic-guided probing achieved a success rate of 94.12%. Endoscopy indicated a stenotic valve and membrane in 82.36%, elastic membrane in 5.88%, submucosal false passage in 5.88%, bony obstruction in 2.94%, and tight inferior turbinate in 2.94% of the patients. Conclusion Endoscopic-guided probing transfers probing from a blind procedure to a visualized one, diagnoses the cause of obstruction and false passage, and enables intraoperative readjustment of false passage; this in turn increases the success rate.

Keywords

• nasal endoscopy
• nasolacrimal duct obstruction
• probing