Balloon Sinuplasty

Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ tech­nol­o­gy is a FDA-cleared, endo­scop­ic, catheter-based sys­tem for patients suf­fer­ing from sinusi­tis. The tech­nol­o­gy uses a small, flex­i­ble, Sinus Bal­loon Catheter to open up blocked sinus pas­sage­ways, restor­ing nor­mal sinus drainage and func­tion. When the sinus bal­loon is inflat­ed, it gen­tly restruc­tures and widens the walls of the pas­sage­way while main­tain­ing the integri­ty of the sinus lining.

The Ben­e­fits in Using the Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty ™Tech­nol­o­gy

Safe and Effec­tive — While use of any sur­gi­cal instru­ment involves some risk, clin­i­cal stud­ies have indi­cat­ed the Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ sys­tem to be safe and effec­tive in reliev­ing symp­toms of sinusitis.

Min­i­mal­ly Inva­sive — The tech­nol­o­gy uses small, soft, flex­i­ble devices that enter entire­ly through the nos­trils. These devices gen­tly open blocked sinus open­ings, and in many cas­es, with­out tis­sue or bone removal.

Reduced Bleed­ing — Because in many instances no tis­sue or bone is removed when using this tech­nol­o­gy, there may be reduced bleed­ing asso­ci­at­ed with the pro­ce­dure. As a result, the need for uncom­fort­able nasal pack­ing may also be eliminated.

Improved Recov­ery Time — While recov­ery time varies with each patient, many peo­ple can return to nor­mal activ­i­ties with­in 24 hours.

Does Not Lim­it Treat­ment Options — This tech­nol­o­gy is an endo­scop­ic tool and may be used with oth­er med­ical ther­a­pies or sinus surgery tech­niques. It does not lim­it future treat­ment options if you have pro­gres­sive disease.

Fre­quent­ly Asked Questions

What is sinusitis?

Sinusi­tis is an inflam­ma­tion of the sinus lin­ing com­mon­ly caused by bac­te­r­i­al, viral, and / or micro­bial infec­tions; as well as, struc­tur­al issues such as block­age of the sinus open­ing (ostium). If the ostium becomes swollen shut, nor­mal mucus drainage may not occur. This con­di­tion may lead to infec­tion and inflam­ma­tion of the sinuses.

What are the com­mon symp­toms of sinusitis?

• Com­mon symp­toms include:
• Facial pain, pres­sure, con­ges­tion or fullness
• Nasal obstruc­tion or blockage
• Dis­charge of dis­col­ored mucus from the nose
• Dis­col­ored post-nasal drainage
• Loss of smell
• Headache
• Fatigue

What types of doc­tors treat sinusitis?

Many types of doc­tors treat sinusi­tis, includ­ing gen­er­al and fam­i­ly prac­tice physi­cians, pedi­a­tri­cians, and aller­gists. How­ev­er, if a patient has chron­ic sinusi­tis or does not respond to med­ical treat­ment, he or she may be referred to a spe­cial­ist — an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) physi­cian, or otolaryngologist.

How is sinusi­tis treated?

Two approach­es have emerged for treat­ing sinusi­tis patients:

1. Med­ical therapies
2. Endo­scop­ic sur­gi­cal interventions

Sinusi­tis is treat­ed ini­tial­ly with med­ical ther­a­pies. Usu­al­ly antibi­otics or top­i­cal nasal steroid sprays are giv­en to reduce mucos­al swelling, fight infec­tion, and relieve obstruc­tion at the sinus open­ing (ostium). These ther­a­pies are often effec­tive in reduc­ing sinusi­tis symp­toms. How­ev­er, for many oth­er patients, these med­ica­tions are inad­e­quate and sinus surgery may be the next step in find­ing relief.

Surgery may be indi­cat­ed for those patients whose symp­toms and ostial obstruc­tion per­sist despite med­ical ther­a­py. With the advent of FESS (Func­tion­al Endo­scop­ic Sinus Surgery), sinus surgery has evolved from open and inva­sive pro­ce­dures to less inva­sive sur­gi­cal tech­niques. Along with this evo­lu­tion, many endo­scop­ic tools have been devel­oped to fur­ther assist and help improve FESS tech­niques. These tools include an array of devices such as the microde­brid­er and the sinus bal­loon catheter.

What is ​“sin­u­plas­ty”?

“Sin­u­plas­ty” is the term that is some­times used to refer to the Relie­va Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ devices that your sur­geon may chose to use dur­ing your FESS procedure.

What is ​“Bal­loon Sinuplasty™”?

The words, ​“Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™,” when used togeth­er, describe the use of a sinus bal­loon catheter to sur­gi­cal­ly repair the sinus ostia dur­ing a FESS pro­ce­dure. FESS is a min­i­mal­ly inva­sive sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dure to open up air cells and sinus ostia (open­ings) in patients suf­fer­ing from chron­ic sinusi­tis. FESS involves the inser­tion of an endo­scope into the nose for a direct visu­al exam­i­na­tion of the open­ings into the sinus­es. Using the endo­scope and a com­bi­na­tion of sur­gi­cal tools, e.g., curettes, for­ceps, pow­ered micro-debrid­ers, pow­ered shavers, and / or sinus bal­loon catheters, sur­geons enlarge the patient’s sinus open­ings to clear pas­sage­ways in order to restore nor­mal sinus ven­ti­la­tion and drainage.

What are the Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ devices?

The Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ devices are FDA-cleared, endo­scop­ic, catheter-based tools specif­i­cal­ly designed to be used in sinus surgery. The Sinus Bal­loon Catheter is grad­u­al­ly inflat­ed to gen­tly restruc­ture the pre­vi­ous­ly blocked nasal pas­sage, main­tain­ing the integri­ty of the sinus lin­ing and restor­ing nor­mal sinus drainage and function.

Does surgery with the Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ tech­nol­o­gy work?

Clin­i­cal stud­ies have indi­cat­ed that using Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ tech­nol­o­gy is safe and effec­tive in dilat­ing sinus openings.

Are the Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ devices safe?

While use of any sur­gi­cal instru­ment involves some risk, clin­i­cal research has indi­cat­ed the Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ tech­nol­o­gy to be safe. Fur­ther­more, bal­loon catheter tech­nol­o­gy has been used suc­cess­ful­ly in oth­er med­ical pro­ce­dures such as bal­loon angio­plas­ty for the heart.

How long does it take to recov­er from a typ­i­cal surgery using the Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ system?

Because the sys­tem is min­i­mal­ly inva­sive it is typ­i­cal­ly used in an out­pa­tient set­ting. While recov­ery time will vary from patient to patient, many peo­ple can return to nor­mal activ­i­ties with­in 24 hours after surgery.

Does surgery with Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ devices lim­it my treat­ment options?

No. Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ devices are endo­scop­ic tools used with­in FESS and may be used with oth­er med­ical ther­a­pies. They do not lim­it future treat­ment options for patients with pro­gres­sive disease.

Are Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ devices right for me?

If you suf­fer from sinusi­tis, and med­ical ther­a­py has not been effec­tive in reliev­ing your symp­toms, you may be a can­di­date for surgery using the Bal­loon Sin­u­plas­ty™ devices. Talk to your doc­tor about whether use of these FDA-cleared, endo­scop­ic, catheter-based tools are right for you.