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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 888-724-7123.
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