“ABCDEF Checklist" based on 3D radiological images for preoperative planning of endoscopic sinus surgery

Abstract

Background: Endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) is performed on endonasal landmarks that have great anatomical variability, therefore a detailed preoperative study of these structures is necessary. Objective: To develop a checklist for the systematic identification of the paranasal sinuses and the skull base, based on 3D images that guide the planning and implementation of ESS to minimize complications and improve surgical outcomes. Methods: This study evaluates the usefulness of the “ABCDEF Checklist”, in a randomized study involving 30 otolaryngologists with more than 2 years of practical experience in ESS evaluating preoperative radiological examination and subsequent surgical performance in the sinus of 30 cadavers. Results: Differences between groups in identifying the essential anatomical references were significant in 9 of the 11 essential anatomical references for the Checklist Group Surgical procedures and surgical mistakes were performed systematically less often in the Checklist group but the differences did not reach significance after Bonferroni correction. Conclusions: The use of "ABCDEF Checklist" prior to ESS facilitates the identification of the essential anatomical references for the preoperative and systematized planning of the surgical procedures. However, in this small sample of 15 participants per group the differences found in the performance of the surgical procedures did not reach significance.

Keywords

• paranasal sinuses
• nasal surgical procedures
• chronic rhinosinusitis
• education radiology
• sinus surgery
• pre-operative checklist
• endoscopic sinus surgery