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The endoscopic modified Lothrop procedure (EMLP; also known as Draf III or frontal drillout) has recently gained popularity as a minimally invasive alternative to frontal sinus obliteration. This systematic analysis was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of the EMLP.

Literature review and meta‐analysis.

We performed a search of all English studies published from 1990 to 2008 that reported results from a minimum of five patients undergoing the EMLP. Of the 33 papers reviewed, 18 studies (evidence level II‐2 or II‐3) containing data from 612 patients met inclusion criteria.

The most common indications for EMLP were chronic frontal sinusitis (75.2%) and mucocele (21.3%). Patients had an average age of 47.9 years (range, 14–89 years) and were followed for 28.5 months postoperatively. Only 20.3% of procedures were performed without image …