Endoscopic endonasal surgery complication: new methods of intracavernous internal carotid artery injury treatment.

OBJECTIVES

To present new interventional neuroradiology methods of management of an ICA injury during functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS).

CASE: The authors report the case of a patient who presented an ICA injury during a FESS and who could undergo an embolization. This embolization stopped the epistaxis and saved the patient from a lethal issue without any aftereffect.

DISCUSSION: After a review of the literature the authors describe the circumstances of occurrence, the urgent management and the modern treatment of an ICA injury. Along with the progress in neuroradiology, the embolization represents a top grade treatment of this complication. Embolization with stent keeps permeable the ICA axis which represents a major progress in the management.

CONCLUSION

The success of the management of an ICA injury relies on the close collaboration between anesthesist, otorhinolaryngologist surgeon and interventional neuroradiologist. Since 2004, modern techniques of interventional neuroradiology using new stents allow to keep permeable the ICA axis.