Objective: To investigate the efficacy and the surgical techniques of transnasal endoscopic procedure for juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA).
Methods: Twenty-one nasopharyngeal angiofibroma patients were treated using transnasal endoscopic approach. They were divided into group A (without intracranial extension) and group B (minimal intracranial extension) according to the staging of Sessions. The patients were treated mostly with endoscopic surgery. In two midfacial operations cases, endoscopy was also used. The staging, average blood loss during surgery, tumor residual, and (or) recurrent tumor were evaluated.
Results: Group A (19 cases) had an average blood loss of 1000 ml. Nineteen patients had no residual or recurrent tumor over a follow-up of 8-24 months. Group B (2 cases) had an average blood loss of 1500 ml. One of the patients had minimal residual tumor around the cavernous sinus, but showed no progression over a follow-up of 2 years. Another patient had no residual or recurrent tumor over a follow-up of 8 months.
Conclusions: The data suggests that transnasal endoscopic surgical techniques can be used to treat JNA which either limited to nasal and nasopharyngeal cavities or and the tumor with sphenoid and ethmoid invasions and even minimal intracranial extension.