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E N T
N A V I G A T I O N
SURGEON PREFERENCE
Image Guidance In Demand
H
aven't yet invested in image-guided technology? Good luck getting forward-thinking ENT surgeons to bring cases to your facility, say researchers at the University of Utah
in Salt Lake City.
Nearly 95% of 336 members of the
American Rhinologic Society who were surveyed in 2010 about their use of computerized
navigation for endoscopic sinus surgeries say
they had access to the technology, up from
86% who had access 5 years earlier.
That a growing number of ENT surgeons
are seeking out the technology could be rootSELLING POINT A growing number of ENT sured in its almost universal use at teaching hosgeons want access to image-guided technology.
pitals where the next generation of physicians are training, says Richard R. Orlandi, MD, FACS, professor of otolaryngology
at the University of Utah, and one of the authors of the study, published in the
International Forum of Allergy and Rhinoplasty.
ENT navigation will be a permanent fixture in some portion of endoscopic sinus
surgery in the future, says Dr. Orlandi, especially as less invasive techniques
become the norm.
The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery endorses
the use of intraoperative computer-aided surgery to assist the surgeon in clarifying complex anatomy during select sinus and skull base surgeries. According to
the organization, computer-aided surgery is indicated for
• revision sinus surgery;
• distorted sinus anatomy of development, postoperative or
traumatic origin;
• extensive sino-nasal polyposis;
• pathology involving the frontal, posterior ethmoid and
sphenoid sinuses;
• disease abutting the skull base, orbit, optic nerve or carotid artery;
• CSF rhinorrhea or conditions where there is a skull-base defect; and
• benign and malignant sino-nasal neoplasms.
— Daniel Cook
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