Otolaryngology: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Development of surgical technology, improvement of operative technique, increased anatomical knowledge during the last two decades enabled the endoscopic surgeons to go far beyond paranasal sinuses. One of the regions that still remain very difficult to explore with purely endoscopic technique is the orbit. We aim at presentation of the advantages and limitations of endoscopic surgery of this region. Basing on our own clinical experience endoscopic surgical approaches to various types of orbital pathologies including inflammatory (abscesses), posttraumatic (hematomas, foreign bodies) and tumors will be discussed. Stress will be put on proper tailoring the endoscopic technique to lesions of different types and locations. The endoscopic transnasal, transseptal, transmaxillar and external approach to the orbit will be presented. The application of neuronavigation system and intraoperative ultrasonography during these procedures will also be discussed. Both our own experience and data from the relevant literature indicate that intraorbital inflammatory lesions can be effectively treated by means of endoscopy whereas purely endoscopic removal of intraorbital tumor still remains rarity because is technically demanding and requires high experience in this type of surgery. In case of malignancies endoscopy may be used for diagnostic purposes and/or as a method supporting conventional external surgical approaches.

Biography

Andrzej Sieskiewicz received PhD from the Medical Academy of Bialystok upon the presentation of Doctoral dissertation in 2000. He is a member of Polish Society of Otolaryngologists Head and Neck Surgeons, Polish Society of Skull Base Surgeons, Polish Rhinologic Society. He is author of over 70 publications in medical journals. He is an invited lecturer on Polish and international conferences and teaching courses on endoscopic surgery of the nose, paranasal sinuses, skull base and orbit. He is the head of many scientific and research projects sponsored by Medical University of Bialystok and Polish Ministry of Science and Education focused mainly on endoscopic surgery and interdisciplinary cooperation during skull base pathology treatment.