Newer surgical procedures not necessarily better; primary frontal sinus endoscopic surgery relieves frontal sinus symptoms in most; success following surgery to correct obstructive sleep apnea dependent upon scoring measures; intranasal splint use after surgery increases patient pain, provides few offsetting benefits; new reprocessing guidelines for ent endoscopes stress high-level disinfection techniques; multicenter study shows feasibility and safety of transoral robotic surgery.
Lingering Issues: Challenges remain in repairing CSF leaks
Once the province of neurosurgeons, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak repair is now handled mostly by otolaryngologists. This change has occurred over the past couple of decades, during which time the evolution of endoscopic tools and techniques has made possible extracranial rather than intracranial repair. The success rate for repairing these leaks from below has reached about 90 percent, particularly for small leaks.