8 April, 2024
New minimally invasive surgery to remove benign ear tumours, now also at barnaclínic+
Advances in medicine are allowing for increasingly more precise and less invasive interventions. In this sense, the use of endoscopy stands out, which takes advantage of the natural openings of the body or small incisions both to examine the interior of the organs and to perform different procedures. The hospital Clínic Barcelona has been the first centre in Spain to use this approach to remove glomus tumours, a type of benign tumour of the middle ear that grows in the temporal bone of the skull, behind the eardrum. From now on, this minimally invasive surgical technique to remove ear tumours is also available at barnaclínic+.
DOCTOR FRANCESC LARROSA, PIONEER IN ENDOSCOPIC MIDDLE EAR SURGERY
In June 2018, Dr Francesc Larrosa, consultant of the Otorhinolaryngology Service at Clínic Barcelona and otorhinolaryngologist at barnaclínic+, began removing tumours from the middle ear through endoscopic surgery and currently a total of ten patients have already undergone surgery with it. With these data, a study has been carried out that has been published in The Journal of Laryngology-Otology and in which it is demonstrated that this minimally invasive technique is safe and effective in the removal of glomus tumours of the eardrum in its initial phase.
Now, barnaclínic+ also offers this type of intervention for the aforementioned cases. This way, our patients can benefit from cutting-edge surgery, which reduces the complications and discomfort of a traditional operation, while maintaining optimal results.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE EAR CANAL ALLOWS A MINIMALLY INVASIVE APPROACH
To carry out this minimally invasive approach in the removal of glomus tumours of the eardrum, the technique takes advantage of the natural corridor of the ear canal, avoiding incisions outside the ear and extracting the tumour through it. “This way, we can dissect the tumour and extract it without having to remove bone or destroying fewer structures in our path,” explains Dr Larrosa, who points out that this is also possible thanks to the use of lighting that magnifies the visibility of the middle ear and that allows you to enter much further than with the traditional microscope.
“With this new minimally invasive surgery, we can dissect the tumour and extract it without having to remove bone or destroying fewer structures in our path”
Dr Francesc Larrosa, consultant of the Otorhinolaryngology Service at Clínic Barcelona and otorhinolaryngologist at barnaclínic+
In addition to the use of this lighting, this approach also uses a laser that coagulates the incision that is made. In this case, the one used is the Blue Laser, specific to prevent bleeding. “This is something that in this type of surgery is very annoying, since we have to be very precise in these interventions, when we are talking about very important structures such as the ossicular chain, the inner ear or the easy nerve that we do not want to damage in this surgery”.
FASTER RECOVERY, THANKS TO ENDOSCOPIC EAR SURGERY
The main advantage of this type of endoscopic ear surgery is the rapid recovery of patients. The fact of taking advantage of the ear canal itself to carry it out means that it is not necessary to make any incision. “People from Barcelona can go home the same day and the inconvenience they experience is minimal.” Before using this technique, the intervention was carried out under microscopic vision and in many cases an incision had to be made behind the ear, with one or two days of hospital admission.
Avoiding this incision brings different advantages for patients, such as less postoperative pain, less aesthetic impact and preservation of the sensitivity of the auricle, in short, better quality of life. Although the duration of surgery may increase compared to other surgical interventions, hospitalisation time is considerably reduced, with less than ten hours on average. “We can only do this here, in leading centres like the Clínic,” concludes Dr Larrosa.
“We can only do this kind of surgery here, in leading centres like the Clínic“
However, not all patients can benefit from this technique. Dr Larrosa explains that this type of surgery “cannot be applied to all the glomus tumours that we receive, only cases in incipient stages and that do not extend outside the middle ear.”