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Balloon Sinuplasty is hailed as the most exciting medical advance in the ear, nose and throat field in the last few years

Sinusitis is a very common problem that affects millions of people each year. Sinusitis is an infection or inflammation of the sinuses or the pre chambers that drain each of the sinuses viz maxillary, ethmoid, frontal and sphenoid. Sinusitis patients have debilitating headaches, facial pain, recurrent upper respiratory tract infections and nasal congestion. It is different from allergic rhinitis which causes sneezing and watery rhinorrhoea.

Balloon Sinuplasty is a middle ground between medication and surgery. It is a simple outpatient surgery that requires general anesthesia. The main aim of this surgery is to remove the disease from the prechambers of the sinus drainage pathway. This is done by threading a guide wire catheter thru the nose and up into the blockage. The catheter is equipped with a tiny balloon, which is inflated to about a quarter of an inch once inside the passage. The balloon is inflated just enough to open the passageway. Once the passageway is open, the balloon is deflated and withdrawn. Now this drains the sinus contents and relieves the symptoms. This is comparable to balloon angioplasty for coronary artery diseases.

The positive side to Balloon Sinuplasty is that there are no incisions or cutting and therefore no much of pain or prolonged bed rest. The balloon fractures the bones around the drainage pathway and spreads them apart, allowing the sinuses to be drained. This, also in due course of time forms a permanent wider pathway for drainage. The only draw back is recurrence . The frontal sinus is particularly challenging to ear, nose and throat surgeons as its location and anatomy is difficult. Balloon Sinuplasty is very valuable for the frontal sinusitis. Polyps cannot be cured by this method. Only simple sinusitis can be cured. The balloon will not fit into every sinus, example ethmoid sinus and patients may have bone inflammation that need to be excised.

Nevertheless, Balloon Sinuplasty is hailed as the most exciting medical advance in the ear, nose and throat field in the last few years. The number of patients who can benefit from this type of operation is huge. Unlike the one time painful surgical operation, FESS, Sinuplasty needs to be repeated for a better cure. But still this simple procedure is less morbid with return to work in just a single day.

Author: Dr.Prakash Manoharan is a Chennai based consultant ENT surgeon. For appointments for consultation call 09884353900