Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

Functional endoscopic sinus surgery, abbreviated FESS, is a minimally invasive surgical technique for treating chronic sinusitis and related sinus disease using an endoscope passed through the nostrils rather than external incisions. It was developed in the 1970s by Heinz Stammberger and Walter Messerklinger in Graz, Austria, and later brought to wider international attention through the work of David Kennedy. Rather than a purely mechanical correction, FESS is now understood partly as a way of opening the sinuses so topical medications can reach diseased tissue, and reported success rates range from about 80 to 90 percent in adults and 86 to 97 percent in children treated for chronic rhinosinusitis.