A comparative study of external dacryocystorhinostomy with stent versus no stent in acquired nasolacrimal duct obstruction

Abstract

Background: Epiphora is defiened as decreased tear transfusion or defective tear discharge flow. Blockage of the NLD (NLDO) prevents the flow of tears from the eye to the nose, leading to symptoms of obstruction. Dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) was established as the predominant measure. Objective: To evaluate the effect of intubation on the outcome of external dacryocystorhinostomy. Patients and methods: It was a prospective interventional randomized study. The study was carried on 40 eyes of patients were going to do DCR under general anaethesia. They were divided into 2 groups as follows: Group A (20 participants) were undergoing external dacryocystorhinostomy with silicone intubation and group B (20 participants) were undergoing external dacryocystorhinostomy without intubation. Results: At the final follow up of the patients of the two groups for 6 months, there were 4 cases had persistent epiphora post-operative two cases in group (A) and two cases in group (B). This indicated that there was no significant difference between the use of intubation or not in cases of acquired NLDO and chronic dacryocystitis. Conclusion: External dacryocystorhinostomy is still gold standard surgical treatment in primary nasolacrimal duct obstruction. This study showed that the silicone tube implantation is not necessary in the surgery.