Endoscopic ear surgery

Endoscopic visualization has improved due to high-definition video imaging and wide-field endoscopy, and being less invasive, EES is gaining importance as an adjunct to microscopic ear surgery.

Endoscopic ear surgery was first described in 1992 by Professor Ahmed El-Guindy and pioneered by Dr Muaaz Tarabichi in Dubai during the late 1990s.

[4] Tarabichi's initial dissertations were met with skepticism in a very similar fashion to Professor Heinz Stammberger and the backlash he faced when he introduced FESS.

[5] One of the benefits of an endoscope compared to the microscope is the wide-field view of the middle ear afforded by the location of the light source at the tip of the instrument and the availability of various types of angled lenses.

Middle ear procedures that utilize a rigid endoscope for viewing may reduce the need to drill for enhanced exposure of the operative field.

[6] The traditional otologic operating microscopes typically require larger portals (e.g., postauricular approaches) to enable adequate passage of light for intraoperative viewing and follow-up surveillance in the clinic.

Failures in cholesteatoma surgery are most common in certain areas of the anatomy of the tympanic cavity, such as the facial recess, sinus tympani, anterior attic, and the protympanum which are poorly accessed with the microscope.