New 5 mm, 0-Degree Wide-angled Skull Base Telescope

The development of nasal endoscopic surgical techniques paralleled advances in the technology of optic fibers, crystal lenses, angled telescopes, new light sources, and camera systems. These concurrent advances allowed surgeons to perform more complicated procedures in the nose, paranasal sinus, skull base, and beyond. But as new frontiers are crossed, more complex procedures require the development of special instrumentation to optimize the safety and feasibility of the more complicated procedures.

The objective describes the development of a 5 mm, 0 degree wide-angled 18 cm nasal telescope, and its use in surgical procedures involving the nose, paranasal sinuses, and skull base.

By using the novel telescope in transnasal / transseptal binostril pituitary operations, and comparing the visual field, quality and brightness of lighting, focus capability, image sharpness and technical difficulties to the traditional 4 mm, 0 degree telescope, the visual field appeared larger with the 5 mm, 0 degree wide-angled telescope than the images generated by the traditional 4 mm telescope. In addition to this the novel telescope also exhibited slightly better quality of light and image sharpness.

The new 5 mm, 0 degree wide-angled telescope is a magnificent addition for endoscopic nasal, paranasal and especially, skull base surgery.