Long-term quality of life after endoscopic removal of sinonasal inverted papillomas: a 6-year cohort analysis in a tertiary academic hospital

Inverted papillomas may affect the (para)nasal cavity. While some of these papillomas can undergo malignant transformation, others grow slowly and cause few if any symptoms. An endoscopic approach is seen as providing a balance between the greatest removal possible and avoiding unnecessary morbidity. However, the actual long-term quality of life of patients having undergone surgery for inverted papillomas has never been studied. Our primary aim is to assess the long-term sequelae and the quality of life of patients after endoscopic surgery of sinonasal inverted papillomas. The secondary aim is to establish which nasal symptoms, if any, are the most prevalent before and after surgery. We used the SNOT-22 questionnaire to assess the quality of life of patients who had undergone endoscopic surgery for sinonasal inverted papillomas between 2000 and 2011. Twenty-seven out of 34 patients returned the questionnaire (79 % response rate). Median follow-up was 6 years (range 1–10). Mean age was 58.9 years (range 40–85). Median SNOT-22 score was 12, while the most frequent postoperative symptom was the need to blow the nose (18 patients) and the most frequent preoperative symptom was nasal obstruction. Patients after endoscopic removal of sinonasal inverted papillomas return to an almost normal quality of life, as measured by the disease-specific questionnaire SNOT-22. The most frequent symptom was the need to blow the nose.