Nasal and Sinus Disorders

Palmdale Regional Medical Center treats a range of nasal and sinus disorders, including:

Chronic Sinusitis

Chronic infection and inflammation of the sinuses can lead to chronic sinusitis. That's a condition in which patients experience a variety of persistent symptoms, including:

• Nasal congestion
• Nasal obstruction
• Facial pain and pressure
• Loss of taste and smell
• Tooth pain
• Lethargy

Although physicians do not understand all the causes of chronic sinusitis, frequent colds, inhalant allergies, nasal polyps or tumors, deviated septum, nasal trauma and granulomatous diseases are some of possible causes of chronic sinusitis.

Physicians may use minimally invasive endoscopic sinus surgery or other techniques, such as balloon sinuplasty, to open the sinuses and improve drainage patterns. Patients typically experience fewer sinus infections, less severe sinus infections and improve much faster with medical treatment after surgery.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Leaks

Cerebrospinal fluid leaks, or encephaloceles, may occur as a result of trauma, obesity, high intracranial pressure or other unknown causes. Patients usually experience clear drainage from one nostril, which may worsen with bending, exercise or straining. Cerebrospinal fluid leaks may cause serious complications such as meningitis (inflammation of the brain membranes) or pneumocephalus (air in the brain).

In the past, surgeons treated encephaloceles with a procedure in which they used large skull incisions, made bone flaps, retracted the patient's brain, found the leak and repaired it. Now, surgeons at Palmdale Regional Medical Center use minimally invasive endoscopic techniques that allow them to find and repair these leaks through the patient's nose, thereby avoiding skull incisions. Patients often experience fewer complications, decreased pain and may leave the hospital more quickly with the use of these techniques.

Nasal and Sinus Tumors

Several types of benign and malignant tumors may occur in the nose and sinus cavities. These lesions can often spread to the brain and base of the skull. Tumors have traditionally been removed with a variety of facial or skull incisions.

However, advances in minimally invasive endoscopic techniques now allow surgeons at Palmdale Regional Medical Center to remove tumors through a patient's nose and avoid facial or skull incisions. Patients typically experience fewer complications, decreased pain and leave the hospital sooner with the use of these techniques.

Nasal and sinus tumors treated at Palmdale Regional Medical Center include:

Benign Tumors

• Osteoma
• Ossifying fibroma
• Fibrous displasia
• Oncocytic/cylindric cell papilloma
• Juvenile nasal angiofibroma
• Hemangioma of pregnancy
• Giant cell tumor
• Cholesterol granuloma
• Clival Chordoma
• Meningioma
• Nasal dermoids

Malignant Tumors

• Squamous cell carcinoma
• Malignant melanoma
• Adenocarcinoma
• Adenosquamous carcinoma
• Meibomiam gland carcinoma
• Leiomyosarcoma
• Chondrosarcoma
• Esthesioneuroblastoma
• Spindle cell carcinoma
• Adenoid cystic carcinoma
• Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC)
• Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor
• Ameloblastoma
• Metastatic cancers to the nose and sinuses
• Plasmacytoma
• Lymphoma

Nosebleeds

Nosebleeds are a common medical problem and usually go away without treatment. When they do require medical attention, nosebleeds are usually controlled with simple packing or cauterization. In severe cases, bleeding may be the result of damage to the sphenopalatine artery, a blood vessel at the back of the nose.

In those cases, surgeons at Palmdale Regional Medical Center can often stop the bleeding by inserting an endoscope, a long-lighted rod, through the nose to identify the bleeding artery, and cauterize or clip the artery to produce immediate results. Following the surgery, discomfort is usually minimal and may include some nasal congestion. Patients can often return home the same or next day.