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xcel

Joined: 27-Jun-2007
Posts: 5
Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 10:28 am
Post topic: Balloon Sinuplasty for Chronic Sinusitis		  
Just had a Balloon Sinuplasty procedure done last week for my chronic sinusitis condition. It's a new procedure, developed by a company called Acclarent, that promises the surgery to be less invasive and significantly reduce recovery time as opposed to tradition endoscopic sinus surgery.

Basically how it works is a small Sinus Balloon Catheter is used to open up blocked sinus passageways, by inserting it into your nasal cavity and gently inflating.

One issue is that in order to properly guide the Sinus Balloon Catheter to open up blocked sinus passageways, if you have some blockage (like a deviated septum, nasal polyps) you still have to do some "cutting" which kind of defeats the whole purpose of performing this less-invasive procedure.

Now, 5 days later - still very swollen and taking Avelox (antibiotic) and Prednisone (steroid). Let's see what happens next... One other comment was that insurance (Blue Cross) covered the procedure, but not the "hardware" (i.e. the baloon) which cost $1600 out-of-pocket.
Tags: deviated-septum , Baloon-Sinuplasty , sinus-balloon-catheter , sinusitis , endoscopic-sinus-surgery , Prednisone , Avelox , Sinus-Surgery , Acclarent , Chronic-Sinusitis
 
Author Messages

Sissy

Joined: 18-Jul-2007
Posts: 248
Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 10:07 pm
Post topic: Balloon Sinuplasty for Chronic Sinusitis		  
I had a doctor that told me about the procedure, but wanted to see how others did first. Keep me informed.

Sissy
 
Author Messages

christa555

Joined: 11-Aug-2007
Posts: 4
Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:19 pm
Post topic: Balloon Sinuplasty for Chronic Sinusitis		  
I'd be interested to hear about how effective this treatment is too. I hope you'll keep us updated. Anything that lessens the time 'under the knife' is OK with me!
 
Author Messages

xcel

Joined: 27-Jun-2007
Posts: 5
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:00 am
Post topic: Balloon Sinuplasty for Chronic Sinusitis		  
It was very painful the first night right after the surgery, but the pain went away after a couple of days. Doctor took the packing out of the nose the next day and felt a lot batter.

Now it's been a week and a half since I've had the surgery and I am feeling amazing. For the first time in my life I am able to fully breath without Afrin ro taking any of the allergy sprays. I told my wife - I can't believe I am able to get all this oxygen, feels like I am doing something wrong - because it just feel so great :)

 
Author Messages

Sissy

Joined: 18-Jul-2007
Posts: 248
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 09:27 pm
Post topic: Balloon Sinuplasty for Chronic Sinusitis		  
Xcel,

Are you still having positive results?

Thanks
Sissy
 
Author Messages

RavenCares

Joined: 25-Jul-2007
Posts: 197
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 07:50 am
Post topic: Balloon Sinuplasty for Chronic Sinusitis		  
That is so strange that your insurance company would cover the cost of the procedure, but not the actual balloon! This procedure sounds promising ~ I know my younger sister went thru a lot of pain when she had sinus surgery as a teenager.
 
 
 

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