Kazakhstan starts using balloon sinuplasty to treat respiratory system ilnesses

Respiratory system illnesses will be treated with the use of balloon sinuplasty technique in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews reports. Balloon sinuplasty is a procedure that ear, nose and throat surgeons may use for treatment of blocked sinuses. Patients diagnosed with sinusitis but not responding to medications may be candidates for the sinus surgery. Two such procedures have already been made in the Central Clinical Hospital of the Presidential Administration in Almaty. Both operations were free of charge for the patients. The main point of the technique is that the procedure is less invasive than the traditional functional endoscopic sinus surgery. The treatment of sinusitis, for example a genyantritis, is done with the help of a special tool for widening of the blocked parts of the respiratory channels. Respiratory system illnesses such as genyantritis are usually treated either with sprays and pills, or with surgeons that involve use of tools, Almas Amangaliyev, the head of the Otolaryngology Department of the Central Clinical Hospital, explained. "The air sinuses are broken (during such surgeries), tissues are removed and there is often some bleeding. The balloon sinuplasty is less traumatic. The fistula -- the deformed part of the respiratory channel -- is widened by a special balloon that makes it possible to drainage and treated the section with different drugs," Amangaliyev said. Sinus surgery with the use of the balloons may be performed in a hospital in an outpatient surgery setting or in a physician’s office under local anesthesia. The surgeon and patient determine the ideal site and anesthesia type for the procedure based on the patient's medical history, surgical need and preferences. The physician inserts a guide catheter through the nostril and near the sinus opening under endoscopic visualization. A flexible guide wire is then introduced into the targeted sinus to confirm access. Most guide wires have a light on the tip which may produce light transmission seen through the skin to help the physician with correct placement of the guide wire. Once access to a blocked sinus is confirmed, a balloon catheter is advanced over the guide wire and positioned in the blocked sinus opening for inflation. The balloon is inflated and it is hoped that the sinus will remain open after the balloon is then deflated and removed. The whole procedure usually takes from 15 minutes to one hour, the doctor said. Amagaliyev said that the technique greately reduced the general recovery period compared with the traditional surgery. "The patient may be discharged and allowed to go home in the same day the surgery is made and return to his usual life the next day. After the traditional surgery the patient had to stay in the hospital for 5 or 7 days," the doctor said. He added that according to the world statistics, the rate of the patients' full recovery thanks to the method makes 96%. "After we practice the procedure and it proves its efficiency we ill introduce it into the register to make it part of the state procurement order (to make the surgery available for free to a set number of patients a year). Sinusitis pathologies are the most widespread kind of otolaryngology pathologies," Amangaliyev said. The doctor pointed out that there is the only drawback of the new method it was the cost of the materials. The price of the special single-use unit equipment exceeds 250 thousand tenge ($1600). And in some cases not one, but several balloons are needed during one operation to widen several air sinuses, the doctor said. According to the experts, balloon sinuplasty isn't the cross functional method. Some cases still require the traditional surgical intervention. Professor Oleg Merkulov from Russia arrived to Kazakhstan to teach Kazakhstan's colleagues to implement the new treatment technique of respiratory system illnesses during a three-day course. The operation started to be implemented in Russia in 2012 and according to Preofessor Merkulov thousands of people have been already been treated with the use of the technique. "The method allows us to use the existing arsenal with a higher chance for success," Merkulov said. And there is always space for the traditional surgery in cases when the new procedure does not result in the full recovery, he added. Balloon technology was initially cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005 and is an endoscopic, catheter-based system for chronic sinusitis. It uses a balloon over a wire catheter to dilate sinus passageways. When the balloon is inflated, it is hoped that the sinus openings will dilate and widen the walls of the sinus passageway, with the goal of restoring normal drainage.