Surgical Procedures
Navigated Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS)
Detail - Navigated M4 Blade With Automated AxiEM Electromagnetic Tracking
FESS procedures that are performed with Medtronic surgical navigation technologies, including the Fusion™ or StealthStation® Navigation System and AxiEM™ electromagnetic tracking technology, can provide more precise and less invasive surgeries for complex, acute sinusitis and chronic sinusitis.
Image guided surgery is ideal for the following types of ENT procedures:
- Transphenoidal procedures
- Intranasal procedures
- Orbital and optical nerve decompression procedures
- Polyposis procedures
- Endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy
- Encephalocele procedures
- Sinus procedures such as maxillary antrostomies, ethmoidectomies, sphenoidotomies/sphenoid explorations, turbinate resections, and frontal sinusotomies
Advantages of Image Guided Surgery
- Procedures are less invasive than the open surgical approaches that were once standard
- Precision is greater, resulting in lower risk to the patient
- Allows for more complete surgical dissections
- Patient discomfort is minimal with potential for reduced recovery time
Navigated Skull Base Surgery
Medtronic ENT navigation solutions help provide surgeons with precise results in the navigation of tumors and lesions affecting the anterior skull base and lateral skull base, including cholesteatomas, petrous apex tumors and pituitary tumors. This is accomplished through:
- Scanning and registration protocols that enable highly precise and reproducible results
- StealthMerge™ ENT software that fuses different imaging modalities (CT, MRI) together for enhanced tissue differentiation
- Instruments designed and calibrated for use in image guided surgery
Benefits of Surgical Navigation for Skull Base Surgery
For the surgeon, Medtronic surgical navigation solutions provide the ability to navigate on images with more clearly defined lesion borders. This enables the removal of diseased tissue with minimized damage to the surrounding healthy anatomy.
For the patient, this means a potential for:
- Less tissue trauma
- Faster healing time
- Fewer and smaller scars
- Confidence and peace of mind
