What are the geographic and temporal trends in sinus surgery and frontal sinus surgery in the United States?
Background: The last 30 years have seen a dramatic change in the frequency and types of surgery performed for chronic rhinosinusitis. While introduction of endoscopic techniques in the 1980s led to a marked decline in open procedures and increase in endoscopic approaches, the impact on treatment patterns of similar introductions of new technology, including balloon catheter dilation in the early 2000s, is unclear.
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May 2015Study design: Retrospective review of a nationwide database of endoscopic sinus surgery procedures drawn from the Medicare Part B data files from 2000 to 2011 using current procedural terminology (CPT) codes and geographic data. In addition, 2010 U.S. census data was analyzed to determine populations of patients older than 65 in different states, while surgical society websites were analyzed to determine the number of practicing otolaryngologists and rhinologists in different areas.
Setting: United States population older than 65 years.