AUGUSTA, Ga., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Older people whose sinusitis can't be helped by medication alone can look to minimally invasive surgery as a safe, effective therapy, new research says.

"This tells us that we should not neglect sinus problems in the elderly; that if medicines don't work, we have a surgical technique that is not that invasive and results in good outcomes," says Dr. Stilianos E. Kountakis of the Medical College of Georgia and a principal author on the study published in the December issue of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

Kountakis and his collaborators looked at 56 patients over age 60. These patients underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery, which uses small cameras and monitors to approach sinuses through the nose and minimize trauma.

Patients continued to report improvement in symptoms over the year following surgery, had few minor complications and no major complications, Kountakis says.

Sinusitis, which affects some 30 million Americans, is the sixth most common chronic condition of older people, he says.