Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical characters of the elderly patients with fungus ball sinusitis, and assess the therapeutic effect of endoscopic sinus surgery and management for recurrence. Methods The clinical data of 60 cases were analyzed. All the patients were performed endoscopic sinus surgeries and Visual Analog Scale(VAS)and the endoscopic examination. Patients with post-operative recurrence were done the maxillary sinus irrigation. Results In this group, the main clinical symptoms were runny nose, stuffy nose, nasal odor, postnasal drip and drip with blood, and the common signs were the middle nasal meatus stenosis and mucosal swelling, purulent secretions or caseous matter attachment and nasal meat obstruction, 76.92 percent of the patients had typical CT features. Both the Visual Analog Scale(VAS)and the score of endoscopic examination after the surgery were significantly lower than those before the surgery(p-value <0.01). It took 6 months that the operated cavity fully recovered. 4 recurrent cases were under complete control through irrigation of maxillary sinus. Conclusion The clinical characters and nasal examination are different in elderly patients with fungus ball sinusitis, CT scanning has special value for diagnosis. Endoscopic sinus surgery is an efficient way for this disease and irrigation of the maxillary sinus plays an important role for post-operative recurrence.

Key words: Clinical characters, Endoscopic sinus surgical procedures, operative, Fungal disease, Nasosinusitis