Transnasal endoscopic surgery: surgical techniques and complications

Nowadays, surgeons have a wide armamentarium of surgical approaches available to safely treat sinonasal malignancies, which includes open approaches, with the traditional craniofacial resection (CFR), and endoscopic transnasal techniques. The correct choice depends on the features of the pathology. It is well known that endoscopic approaches have a lower morbidity compared with traditional open techniques, due to a shorter hospitalization, absence of facial incisions, and avoidance of brain retraction. Moreover, endoscopic surgery presents clear technical advantages. For example, magnification of the surgical field allows the surgeon to carefully identify tumor margins, the site of origin, and the anatomical structures involved by the lesion. Nevertheless, a purely endoscopic approach cannot always provide successful resection of the tumor; the patient must be informed about the possibility of switching to a combined cranio-endoscopic resection or CRF, depending on the effective extension of the disease evaluated intraoperatively. Despite these advantages, postoperative complications can occur after endoscopic endonasal surgery, as in any surgical intervention; however, complications after these procedures are less severe and less frequent compared with traditional open approaches. The most common complications observed include skull base reconstruction failure, intraoperative vascular lesions, and orbital or central nervous system complications. Thus, endoscopic endonasal resection, when properly planned and performed by experienced surgeons, is an acceptable treatment for well-selected skull base malignancies with long-term outcomes comparable to those achieved with traditional external approaches. (c) 2020 S. Karger AG, Basel