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When surgery is needed, an imaging system
makes it more precise than ever
Sinus problems affect some 37 million
Americans each year. The sinuses are eight air-filled
cavities around the nose and eyes that are designed to
filter out dust and other particles. They can become infected
if they’re blocked with mucus for long periods.
That’s what happened to Darry Guli, 52, of Shrewsbury.
As a nurse-practitioner, Guli knew about good health.
But she was convinced the sinus headaches
she started having two years ago were a no-big-deal by-product
of the New Jersey climate. Indeed, a trip to her family
doctor and a prescription for the antihistamine medication
Claritin usually brought relief—until last August.
That’s when her headaches became
debilitating, prompting her physician to order a computed
tomography (CT) scan. “I found out that all along
I’d had a chronic sinus infection,” she recalls.
“I felt miserable.” Guli was referred to Eric
Winarsky, M.D., a near, nose and throat surgeon who is
chief of otolaryngology at Monmouth Medical Center. He
prescribed aone-month regimen of antibiotics, then sent
her for a second CT scan.
It showed significant blockage of all
eight sinus passages. The antibiotics weren’t working,
and Dr. Winarsky advised surgery. Sinus surgery has come
a long way. “Twenty-five years ago it wasthought
necessary to remove the lining of the sinus passages,”
says the doctor. “In the past 15 years, we’ve
been aerating the sinuses endoscopically —that is,
with a long, flexible tube with a light at the end, and
letting them drain, thus reversing the disease.”
Now the surgery has taken another leap forward with the
introduction of the Landmarx Evolution ENT Image Guidance
System. It uses a computer to display three-dimensional
images that locate “landmarks” on the patient’s
anatomy and help direct the surgeon’s instruments
while surgery is under way.
The system combines preoperative CT
scans of the patient’s sinuses with information
it receives during surgery from special sensors on the
surgeon’s instruments and on the patient’s
head. It effectively locates positions within sinus cavities
to within one millimeter’s accu-racy. Monmouth was
the first hospital in New Jersey to employ the 3-D guidance
system for sinus surgery. “It helps us guide our
instruments within the fragile bones of the face, clearing
tissue more precisely and restoring proper drainage,”
says Dr. Winarsky.He performed Guli’s surgery in
November 2003 using the image guidance system.
She left the hospital the same day
and began to feel better immediately. She felt her energy
returning, and at Christmas she visited family in California—a
trip that would have been impossible just four weeks before.
“We can now do sinus surgery on a day-stay basis,”
says Dr. Winarsky. “Recovery time has also been
reduced from three weeks to seven to 10 days.” Adds
Guli: “Now I feel great.”
To learn more about sinus surgery
at Monmouth Medical Center, call 888-SBHS-123
(888-724-7123).
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