Surgeons from several states will have the opportunity to learn new
skills this weekend during what is believed to be the states first-ever
continuing education course focused on sinus surgery. The course, to be
led by Donald Leopold, M.D., will take place Friday and Saturday at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center.
We will be teaching techniques of sinus surgery that may be new to
many local surgeons, and most involve powered instrumentation, said Dr.
Leopold, professor and chairman of the UNMC department of otolaryngology-head
and neck surgery. There have been changes to the protocols of which sinuses
are opened and how theyre opened. The powered instruments have allowed
us to be gentler with the patient, and weve found ways to open the nasal
and sinus airways so they can function in a natural manner.
Nine medical-school residents six from UNMC and three from Kansas
City have signed up for the course, as have 13 surgeons from Iowa, Colorado,
Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
During the courses first two hours on Friday morning, Dr. Leopold will
perform a sinus surgery in a campus operating room that will be broadcast
to the courses participants, who will be seated in a lecture hall on the
UNMC campus. Those surgeons and residents, in turn, will have the opportunity
to interact with Dr. Leopold during the surgery.
Its very uncommon to have live surgery at a course such as this,
Dr. Leopold said. The interactive nature of this surgery provides a valuable
opportunity for the participants to understand the new techniques and to
better utilize the tools that we will be using.
The courses participants also will take part in several lectures. Much
of their afternoon time during the course will be devoted to hands-on learning,
using human cadavers. Donations from instrument and drug companies have
allowed 11 mini-operating areas to be equipped for the hands-on learning.
Dr. Leopold conducted similar workshops while he was on the faculty
at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. A former colleague at Hopkins,
Mark Loury, M.D., now a surgeon in Fort Collins, Colo., will assist Dr.
Leopold with the two-day course. Other assistants include John Pallanch,
M.D., from Sioux City, Iowa, and Omaha physicians James Huerter, Jr., M.D.,
and Stanley Schack, M.D. Dr. Loury will perform a demonstration dissection
during the Saturday afternoon session.
More than 37 million Americans suffer from chronic sinusitis, defined
as four or more sinus infections in a year, making it the most persistent
medical condition affecting Americans. March has been designated as Sinus
Pain Awareness Month by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and
Neck Surgery.
Sinus problems are a major factor in health care today, Dr. Leopold
said. Research shows that people with chronic sinusitis report more pain,
depression and fatigue in their lives than do patients with angina, chronic
heart disease or back pain.
Surgical procedure advances, and sharing those advances with as many
surgeons as possible, are key to alleviating the suffering and pain of
many Americans.