Endoscopic sinus surgery for the treatment of vascular tumors

This study points out the effectiveness of the endoscopic approach for the treatment of vascular lesions such as angiofibroma, hemangioma, and hemangiopericytoma involving the nose and paranasal sinuses. We performed a retrospective study at an academic tertiary referral center. Thirteen patients, diagnosed with vascular tumors of the nose and paranasal sinuses were treated endoscopically between February 1996 and July 2003. All patients underwent endonasal endoscopic surgery. Preoperative angiography with embolization was performed in all but two cases. The follow-up of this series varied from 6 to 75 months (mean, 23 months); only one recurrence (8%) was observed in the juvenile angiofibroma group encountered 20 months postoperatively. This recurrence was again treated endoscopically. The average intraoperative blood loss for the removal of the juvenile angiofibroma group was 300 mL and it was 100 mL for the other vascular tumors. Endoscopic treatment alone is an effective approach for the removal of selected cases of vascular tumors. Even in the presence of a lesion with limited intracranial extension, the tumor still may be amenable to an endoscopic approach alone. On the contrary, this is not true if the intracranial extension receives feeding vessels from the internal carotid arterial system.