What the surgeon needs to know about your existing conditions
The assessment question is not simply whether you have another diagnosis. It is whether that diagnosis, its current control and its treatment change what can be safely offered through the nose. A condition that is stable and well managed may raise different questions from one that is active, recently changed or awaiting its own review.
Prepare a one-page summary rather than a folder of unrelated papers. For each condition, state the diagnosis, when it was confirmed, who manages it, the current treatment, and whether it is stable, improving or under active investigation. Include any condition that affects bleeding, immunity, wound healing, breathing or anaesthesia, because the surgical team will want to consider these together rather than in isolation.
Do not decide in advance that a condition rules out surgery, and do not assume it is irrelevant. The correct step is to present it clearly and ask the surgeon how it affects the proposed plan for you.
Records that make the assessment possible
Sinus assessment depends heavily on what has already been done and what the imaging shows. Bring the actual reports and, where available, the images themselves, not only a summary letter. The most useful items are usually the most recent sinus CT or other imaging, any previous sinus surgery or procedure notes, endoscopy findings, allergy or immunology results, and a current medication list.
For each existing condition, include the latest clinic letter or discharge summary and recent test results that show control. If a condition is managed by another specialist, a short note from that clinician describing stability and any restrictions can be more useful than a large archive. Ask the receiving team what format they prefer and whether translated summaries are needed.
If something is missing, say so plainly and ask whether it changes the assessment or whether the team can proceed with what exists. Missing records are a reason to clarify and request, not a reason to delay urgent local care or to assume the clinician must guess.
Imaging, prior treatment and the proposed surgical extent
The same sinus symptoms can lead to very different operations depending on what the imaging shows and what has already been tried. Previous surgery, incomplete treatment, polyps, anatomical variation or ongoing medical therapy can all influence how much surgery is proposed and which areas are addressed.
Ask the surgeon to explain the proposed extent in plain terms: which sinuses or areas are involved, what the aim is, and what would be left untreated. Ask how your existing conditions affect that plan, and whether any part of it should be staged, modified or deferred. If you have had sinus surgery before, ask how the previous operation and its findings change the current approach.
Endoscopic sinus surgery treats sinus problems through the nose, and the proposed extent, alternatives and individual risks require discussion with the surgeon. That discussion is the point at which your existing conditions become part of the plan rather than a separate file.
Questions that turn a record set into a decision
A useful consultation produces answers you can act on. Ask whether each existing condition changes the anaesthetic plan, the medicines you take around the operation, the extent of surgery, or the monitoring you need afterwards. Ask who will manage that condition while you are in hospital and who should be contacted if it becomes unstable.
Ask what alternatives exist if the surgeon considers the risk too high, and what would need to change for surgery to become appropriate later. Ask what the postoperative clinic care involves, how many reviews are expected, and what would make you return sooner. Ask what arrangements are needed before you can travel home, without assuming a fixed interval.
Write the answers down during the consultation. If a question is deferred, ask when and from whom you will receive the answer. A records-based opinion can clarify the options and the limits of what can be assessed remotely, but it does not establish final suitability or hospital acceptance.
Planning the China visit around the assessment
Once the hospital has reviewed your records, confirm the practical sequence in writing. Ask whether the first visit is for assessment only or whether surgery could be scheduled in the same trip, and what must be completed before a date is confirmed. Ask which department handles international patients and whether an interpreter is needed for the surgical consent discussion.
For existing conditions, ask which specialist reviews are required in China before the operation and whether those can be arranged during the same visit. Ask what medicines you should bring, in what quantity, and how they will be continued in hospital. Confirm the postoperative review schedule and what documentation you will receive for your doctors at home.
Do not treat any of this as settled until the treating hospital confirms it in writing. Availability, scheduling and admission decisions belong to the hospital and its clinicians.
A practical next step
Start with a short summary: your main sinus question, the proposed or previous surgery, your existing conditions and their current control, and the records you can provide. An initial enquiry is free and does not require buying a proxy consultation. The team can identify what is missing and suggest the relevant next step, while the hospital decides whether and how to proceed.
Keep urgent or worsening symptoms with your local clinicians rather than waiting for an overseas reply. For the China assessment, the goal is a clear, complete picture that lets the surgeon answer one question: how do your existing conditions change the sinus surgery being considered?
One practical way to prepare that summary is to write it as a short table before you send anything. Use four columns: condition, how it is currently controlled, who manages it at home, and the document that shows its latest status. A table forces you to notice gaps. If a row has no document behind it, that is the first thing to request, not a reason to guess or to fill the space with a general statement that the condition is fine.
Then decide what you are actually asking the China team to do. There is a difference between asking whether surgery is possible at all, asking how a specific existing condition changes the proposed extent, and asking what the visit would involve if the hospital accepts you. Write the question you want answered at the top of the summary. A team given a clear question can tell you whether it has enough to respond, what it still needs, and which clinician should answer it. A team given a folder and no question can only send back a general reply.
Expect the first response to be about information, not a decision. The hospital may ask for the imaging itself rather than the report, a recent letter from the specialist who manages your other condition, or a clearer statement of how stable that condition is now. Treat those requests as the assessment working, not as obstacles. Each one narrows what remains uncertain.
When you receive a reply, check that it addresses your question directly. If it restates your history without saying how your existing conditions affect the proposed operation, ask again more narrowly. If it defers a point to the surgeon, note who will answer it and when. Keep the written exchange together with your records so that the same information does not have to be reconstructed at each step.
Before any date is treated as fixed, confirm in writing what has been agreed and what still depends on the hospital's own review. That includes whether the first visit is assessment only, which reviews must happen in China, and what you will receive for your doctors at home. None of this is settled by an enquiry alone; it is settled when the treating hospital confirms it.
The aim of all this preparation is narrow and useful. You are not trying to persuade anyone that you are a suitable candidate, and you are not trying to obtain a promise before the records have been read. You are making sure that the surgeon who assesses you has the full picture in a form that can be acted on, so that the discussion about extent, alternatives and individual risks starts from facts rather than from missing pieces.
Sources & scope of this guide
References and official service information relevant to this guide.
This is general planning information and has not been individually reviewed by a doctor. Medical decisions and personal treatment advice come from your treating clinicians.