Endoscopic surgery for juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma: where are the limits?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article will examine recent publications on the endoscopic management of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibromas.

RECENT FINDINGS: The use of an endoscopic approach to resect small juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibromas is supported by excellent results from a number of operative series published in recent years. Large juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibromas continue to present a considerable surgical challenge, with most being resected by traditional open approaches. However, the results achieved after the endoscopic resection of large tumours have been reported for a small number of cases. This review focuses on the outcome of these cases, which would seem to compare favourably to open series, and the advances in instrumentation and techniques, that facilitate the endoscopic removal of large juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibromas.

SUMMARY: Improvements in preoperative assessment and preparation, operative technique, and instrumentation potentially enable the endoscopic removal of most juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibromas.