East Indy News

Endoscopic sinus surgery has come a long way since its introduction to the U.S. in the 1980s.

Some modifications that have taken place include improvements in surgical instruments, imaging and the creation of the microdebrider and other instrumentation.

"The latest state-of-the art innovations and minimally invasive nasal and sinus surgeries are done on-site in office," Dr. Anthony D. Sanders of Indianapolis Sinus Center said. "These innovations include image guidance where a CT scan is displayed on a monitor and a patient tracker, much like a GPS for your sinuses, is attached to the balloon apparatus. And when this is placed in a person’s nose, we can see exactly where the device is on CT. Therefore, the image guidance helps us to provide this service in the most safe manner possible."

Noninvasive sinus surgeries are the norm now to get patients in and out of surgery faster and on the road to recovery, including balloon sinuplasty, where a tiny balloon is inserted into the sinus passage, inflated and then deflated and removed.

"Since its introduction in (the) USA in 2004, it has become popular world-wide, due to its sophisticated technology, which uses balloon dilatational systems for dilating the sinus ostia through a minimally invasive approach and has provided satisfactory results in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis," a study in the Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery explained. 

The study found that after the minimally invasive procedure, "Significant improvements were recorded in patient’s symptoms, from the first post-operative week until the end of the study period... ."

Sinus clinics, such as Indianapolis Sinus Center, are also able to offer in-office CT scans and sedation to ease the stress on patients undergoing sinus surgery. 

"For procedures, IV sedation is offered where the patient is given sedation medicine through IV in conjunction with local anesthetic to allow pain-free performance of any procedure that we offer," Sanders said. 

Aside from slight bleeding from the nose, side effects from endoscopic sinus surgery are uncommon, according to an article published by the Association of Surgical Technologists. 

"Typically people can be back to work within a few days after the procedure," Sanders said.