Endoscopic Endonasal Approach​ Surgery Breakthroughs at UPMC

UPMC Neurosurgeons Are World Leaders in the Endoscopic Endonsal Approach (EEA)

The surgical team at UPMC was the first in the world to use the nasal passages to reach a variety of deep-seated brain tumors and lesions that previously required disfiguring, and potentially debilitating, open surgery.

Using endoscopes to visualize the lesions — and custom-designed instruments to reach them — UPMC surgeons also developed new applications and breakthroughs for EEA, which expanded on this minimally invasive technique originally designed to reach pituitary tumors.

The UPMC team has performed more than 3,500 of these procedures, and was the first in the world to perform and publish the following minimally invasive surgical procedures.

UPMC first to:	Read article:
Repair a vertebral artery aneurysm endoscopically through the nose, utilizing EEA.	The Expanded Endonasal Approach for an Endoscopic Transnasal Clipping and Aneurysmorrhaphy of a Large Vertebral Artery Aneurysm (PDF) » View summary
Remove a giant teratoma endoscopically through the skull base using a transpalate approach (modified EEA) in a newborn patient.	Transpalatal Endoscopic Endonasal Resection of a Giant Epignathus Skull Base Teratoma in a Newborn (PDF) » View summary
Consistently perform, in combination with surgeons in Argentina, reconstruction of the skull base using a nasoseptal flap for endonasal vascularized tissue reconstruction.	A Novel Reconstructive Technique After Endoscopic Expanded Endonasal Approaches: Vascular Pedicle Nasoseptal Flap (PDF) » View summary
Remove an arteriovenous malformation endoscopically through the nose, using EEA.	Full article not available » View summary
Perform surgery for odontoid (2nd vertebra) removal endoscopically through the nose, using EEA.	Full article not available » View summary
Perform a pituitary transposition using EEA to remove retrosellar lesions.	Full article not available  » View summary