Effectiveness of computer-assisted navigation in nasal surgeries

We have used an optical navigation system (Evans-E, Tomiki, Kanazawa, Japan) as a computer-assisted surgery for nasal surgeries. In the present study, we have evaluated the efficacy of the navigation system for each nasal surgery (50 cases) by VAS (visual analogue scale) and classified them into three groups: not efficient (Group A: 20 cases), efficient (Group B: 15 cases) and extremely efficient (Group C: 15 case), respectively. In Group A, cases like pansinusitis with bony septa preserved, sphenoid sinusitis with landmarks such as superior turbinate preserved and single postoperative maxillary cysts with soft wall septum are included. In Group B and Group C. cases like ethmoid sinusitis or cysts which extend to orbit, multiple postoperative maxillary cysts with bony septa and refractory frontal sinusitis or cysts which require median drainage are included. In these cases (Group B and C), navigation system was helpful to avoid complications during operations.