Caldwell Luc surgery: Revisited

Caldwell Luc surgery (CWS) is almost 120 years old now and it still enjoys an important place in ENT Surgeons armamentarium. The logic behind this surgery is to replace the diseased and scarred mucosa from maxillary sinus with new mucosa. In the initial period of this long journey the surgery gained many other important indications which also includes approach to surrounding structures which makes us to think if it’s really a radical surgery as it is used just an approach to other structure. This was a retrospective study of CWS done during period of 2002-2014 in Sri Venkateshwara ENT Institute and Bowring & Lady Harding Hospital both of these attached to Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute. In this study we have tried to analyze the indications and surgical procedure adapted and complications. Even though it has synonym of radical antrostomy the complications were minor and temporary, except for permanent tooth anesthesia and nasal vestibular stenosis. With reasonable expertise if this surgery is done for proper indication: its worth to face these complications and it’s a versatile surgery even today. © Association of Otolaryngologists of India 2015.