Functional and Image-Guided Endscopic Sinus Surgery

Overview

Sinusitis affects 37 million Americans annually. Although medications help the majority of people, there are still many that require surgery for relief of their symptoms.

Functional endoscopic sinus surgery is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure used in the treatment of sinusitis.

An endoscope, a small flexible tube with a light and a camera lens at the end, is inserted into the nose to view the nasal cavity and sinuses. The ethmoid sinus area is usually opened, allowing for direct visualization of the maxillary, frontal and sphenoid sinuses. The endoscope provides the surgeon with technical precision by providing an easy view and magnification of problem areas without damaging healthy surrounding tissue. The procedure often involves removing some of the tiny bones along the opening to the sinuses, thus enlarging the sinus passageways and restoring normal sinus drainage and function. In addition, diseased tissue, polyps and other obstructions can be easily removed.

The benefits of functional and image guided endoscopic sinus surgery include:

• Since the whole procedure is done through the nose, there is less external scarring
• Because the procedure is minimally invasive, there is less removal of normal tissue which typically results in less bleeding and pain
• Generally, there is a shorter recovery time than with traditional open surgery

Image guidance technology greatly improves the safety and effectiveness of Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery by allowing surgeons to remove more diseased tissue. By viewing 3-dimensional images of the sinuses during surgery, the computer imaging gives surgeons better visibility in guiding the surgical instruments around vital structures such as the optic nerve and skull base.