Sinusitis is one of the most frequently occurring health problems in Germany. Many of the patients suffer repeatedly from this disease and even fall chronically ill.
The treatment of sinusitis includes different methods. After the application of conservative treatment approaches, persisting complaints may require surgical interventions. Fortunately, surgeries of the nasal cavity and the paranasal sinuses have been indicated with more and more consideration regarding their extent and especially the radicalism.
Another very gentle treatment option of recurrent sinusitis was elaborated a few years ago when American engineers from California started to work with a new technology for opening the dilation of the natural paranasal sinus ducts. The resulting new ballon catheter procedure is called balloon sinuplasty. The advantages of this method seem to be that traumatisation of the mucosa in the direct operation field is less important than after conventional surgery. The results published until now are very promising, however, it must be stated clearly that long-term results do not exist, which is of course due to the novelty of this method. At the same time the spectrum of indications and also contraindications has not yet been defined sufficiently. Finally it must be mentioned that balloon sinuplasty is not reserved to sole application, it may also be applied in combination with conventional paranasal sinus surgery in the sense of so-called hybrid intervention.
