CONSIDERABLE controversy exists concerning the appropriateness of MT resection during endoscopic sinus surgery. The views on this topic vary to either extreme. Some say the MT should never be resected in the absence of a concha bullosa, while others routinely resect at least a portion of the MT (the so-called turbinators).
Most surgeons who advocate partial MT resection do so for practical rather than theoretical reasons, including ease of postoperative care, decreased synechia formation, and higher middle meatal antrostomy patency rates. As Stewart has pointed out, what little data exist would seem to support this practical approach.