Endoscopic Procedures Nose Up in ENT Market

Ear, nose and throat surgery is the oldest surgical specialty in the US, and until recently, its age was all too apparent. Before the mid 1980s, surgeries for sinusitis were performed in much the same way they'd been done since the turn of the century-through incisions in the face. But in the last 20 years, functional endoscopic sinus surgery was introduced, coupled with CT scanning technologies that have improved the diagnosis of sinusitis. Today, according to US Surgical Procedure Volumes, a report recently published by the Medtech Insight division of FDC-Windhover, the majority of these procedures employ endoscopic techniques performed on an outpatient basis. Now, endoscopic access is the platform upon which start-ups are fixing particular problems in sinus surgeries.