To determine the correlation of the clinical characteristics and histopathologic findings of lacrimal sac after external dacyrocystorhinostomy (DCR).

From March 2008 to June 2009, 49 lacrimal sac tissues of 47 patients were obtained after external DCR and divided according to fibrosis and inflammatory findings. The correlation of preoperative duration of symptoms with NLD obstruction, symptoms of recurrence and outcomes of the operation to the histopathologic findings were retrospectively evaluated.

The mean age of the patients was 58.83 ± 11.49 years and the mean duration of preoperative symptoms was 65.2 ± 69.05 months. Forty-three cases (88%) maintained good openings and 30 cases (61%) had no recurring symptoms over 6 months after the operation. Among the significant symptoms, severe subepithelial inflammations were observed more frequently at shorter duration. However, the fibrosis showed a positive relation with the preoperative duration of symptoms (Spearman correlation test, p <0.05). Most failures were found in the severe inflammation and fibrosis groups and were recovered with anti-inflammatory treatment.

Inflammation and fibrosis of the lacrimal sac could be an important prognostic and predictive factor of outcomes of DCR.