Intranasal stents in endoscopic paranasal sinus surgery: a review of efficacy and safety

The usage of stents is one of the effective prevention methods of postoperative complications during endonasal surgeries. Nowadays there is a large number of stenting methods, both using off-the-shelf technical solutions and using products made directly during surgery of available materials. This review is devoted to stents application in functional endoscopic surgery of paranasal sinuses. Different variants of stents are described, the author’s classification of stents is proposed, the issue of stent placement time is studied, the effectiveness of different methods of endonasal stenting was compared. Stenting of the paranasal sinuses is an effective method of postoperative complications’ prevention, but further studies are required to determine the most optimal forms of stents and the timing of their placement.