A discussion of the choice of operative measures necessary to relieve or to cure any pathologic condition in the body frequently has to take into account many factors other than those directly connected with the disease in question. Nowhere, perhaps, is this so marked as it is in discussing the advisability of treating diseases of the nasal accessory sinuses by intranasal surgery or by an external operation.
Rhinologists at present are at considerable variance, and personally I find myself, as the result of wider experience, changing my views considerably from year to year as to the desirability of resorting to an intranasal or an external operation for the relief or cure in any given case of sinus disease.
External surgical operations undertaken for the cure of disease of the frontal, ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses require a thorough knowledge of the anatomy of this region, acquired not only from the many excellent