Synopsis of Key Findings
This study examines the rates of lung function decline and pulmonary
exacerbations in a cohort of CF patients who have undergone endoscopic
sinus surgery as compared to a group of CF patients with CT or
endoscopic findings of chronic rhinosinusitis but without endoscopic
sinus surgery. Our study demonstrates 4 main findings: 1) non-surgical
patients appear to have higher rates of pseudomonas airway colonization
while surgical patients appear to have higher rates of MRSA
colonization; surgical intervention does not appear to change bacterial
colonization, 2) sinus surgery does not appear to significantly improve
FEV-1% predicted post-operatively, 3) sinus surgery does not appear to
significantly decrease number of pulmonary exacerbations
post-operatively, and 4) sinus surgery appears to increase the total
number of days hospitalized post-operatively.