Minimally Invasive Image-guided Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

Balloon sinuplasty™ is a rather new and innovative technology recently approved by the FDA in treatment of acute and chronic sinusitis. During this outpatient surgical procedure a small, flexible sinus balloon catheter is inserted into the blocked sinus passageways and once in position inflated which subsequently gently widens the passageway while maintaining the natural integrity of the normal sinus tissues.

As a result the sinus cavities can now normally ventilate and mucus within these cavities can be expelled into the nose to prevent frequent sinus infections and sinus headaches. This procedure is very similar to an angioplasty performed on diseased arteries of the heart, however here the arteries are the passageways or drainage ostia of the sinuses. Nonetheless, this procedure cannot be performed on all patients with sinus disease. Specifically patients with pansinusitis, fungal sinus disease, sinonasal polyps, and ethmoid sinus disease are not good candidates for this procedure. The best candidates are patients with fontal sinus disease due to frontal recess blockage. As a result Dr. Cohen often combines this procedure with Minimally Invasive Image-guided Sinus Surgery (MIGSS™) in select patients to provide a comprehensive treatment of their various sinus issues while minimizing trauma to their healthy tissues.