Image Guided Sinus Surgery

Have you ever used a GPS (Global Positioning System) Device as a roadmap? Image guided surgery is essentially a GPS to navigate the sinuses. This innovative, relatively recent technology utilizes the information from your CT scan of the sinuses and reconstructs this in three dimensions to allow pinpoint determination during endoscopic sinus surgery of the location of specific sinuses or vital adjacent structures such as the eye, major blood vessels/nerves, and brain. Image guided surgery is generally utilized when dissection close to these critical structures is anticipated or when anatomy is distorted from prior surgery. The UC Irvine Medical Center is equipped with state of the art, highly accurate, cutting edge image guidance technology that functions seamlessly during surgery to allow real time intra-operative navigation. In addition to its utility in endoscopic sinus surgery, image guidance is a critical component of minimally invasive multidisciplinary endoscopic skull base procedures where navigation extends beyond the boundaries of the sinuses.