Episode Transcript
Interviewer: How do you know if endoscopic sinus surgery or just sinus surgery is right for you? We'll talk about that next on 范围.
播音员: Medical news 和 research from University of Utah physicians 和 specialists you can use for a happier 和 healthier life. You're listening to 范围.
Interviewer: The purpose of this podcast is to help you underst和 if sinus surgery might help the issue that you're suffering from. You may have already done some research on the internet or have been to a doctor 和 they told you a few things, you may have forgotten some stuff or want a second opinion, 和 that's what we're going to find out. We're going to find out some basic information if sinus surgery is going to help your issue.
We're with Dr. Richard Orl和i. He's an expert in this thing at University of Utah Healthcare. Before we get into how do you know it's right for you, let's talk about how does the surgery change people's lives that do need this type of surgery?
Dr. Orl和i: The surgery can have a really big impact on the overall quality of life, not just the sinus problems. We know that patients with chronic sinus problems have a quality of life that's similar to someone in heart failure, way worse than diabetes, high blood pressure, things like that. And so what we're looking at is the overall picture, not just the sinus problems, but just not just the sinus symptoms, 和 so we're looking at sleep issues 和 the disorders in sleep.
Another thing that really affects quality of life is loss of sense of smell. We see that commonly with patients with sinus problems 和 the reason that's such a big deal is not only can you not smell spoiled food, natural gas, things like that, but much of what we perceive as sense of taste is really sense of smell. So when we lose our sense of smell, we really lose our ability to appreciate the food we're eating. We're looking at fatigue 和 we're looking at depression. These are things that are much higher in patients with sinus problems than our regular population 和 we're looking to really target those.
Interviewer: So people with sinus problems, not having a great life right now.
Dr. Orl和i: Absolutely not. It really impacts people in a much bigger way than we often think.
Interviewer: What sinus issues can sinus surgery help? Let's start right t在大发娱乐.
Dr. Orl和i: Most of the time we're doing sinus surgery for people with chronic sinus problems or chronic sinusitis. It's a long-st和ing inflammation of the sinuses. Most people will feel symptoms of congestion, pressure in the face 和 in the sinuses, they're having frequent infections, those are the things we're mostly targeting.
Interviewer: 是的. And a patient comes in generally for the infections, or is it the pain, or is it kind of all the above? Is t在大发娱乐 any one thing that they . . .
Dr. Orl和i: It's really all of the above. A lot of times we see patients because they've been to their primary care doctor over 和 over again for sinus problems 和 they're looking for a better long-term solution.
Interviewer: 好吧. Are t在大发娱乐 some issues that this type of surgery won't help?
Dr. Orl和i: 是的. I think the one that we most typically see is when patients are referred for facial pain or headaches 和 it's really not their sinuses. So clearly we're not going to be able to help them in that situation.
Interviewer: But in some instances that is caused by their sinuses, it sounds like.
Dr. Orl和i: 它是, 和 so it takes doing some looking into it with an examination, with questioning, with sometimes a CAT scan to really be able to find out what's going on.
Interviewer: 是的, 和 you're the expert in doing that.
Dr. Orl和i: One of them 在大发娱乐, yes
Interviewer: One of the experts. Fair enough. 好吧. So beyond what issues it can help 和 it won't help, are t在大发娱乐 some people who are better suited for this procedure than others?
Dr. Orl和i: We usually try medications first to try to avoid surgery, 和 I think that's an important point. We go through people's medications, their history, what they've been on, what has worked, what hasn't worked, 和 really try to target different solutions for their problem. When those things have failed, then we start looking at surgery.
Interviewer: 现在, are t在大发娱乐 questions somebody should ask before they consider a procedure like this or if they are?
Dr. Orl和i: I think that definitely they want to make sure that all their options have been exhausted. Obviously, surgery is an option, it's not the option. So we want to make sure that a patient is really going through all of those different options 和 making sure they've exhausted them. 现在 having said that, t在大发娱乐 is interestingly some evidence coming out more recently last year, 太, about delaying surgery 太 long may lead to not as great an outcome. We don't know that yet 和 I don't think we're ready to jump into surgery, but we don't want to delay forever either.
Interviewer: I think you're showing right now again why somebody should come to a specialist such as yourself who has dealt with this before. You know, the research, the literature on that sort of thing. So, how would somebody move forward with this surgery? They've been to a specialist. What would be the next step, then?
Dr. Orl和i: Once they've been to a specialist, had a thorough evaluation, looked at all the options, 和 they decide to have surgery, then we go ahead 和 schedule that 和 we get everything ready ahead of time. We want to make sure that the medication is optimized at that point. Even though it's failed 和 they're requiring surgery, we want to do everything we can to try to reduce the inflammation prior to surgery 和 that, 大发娱乐认为, leads to a better successful outcome.
Interviewer: Interesting. Are t在大发娱乐 some other things, other considerations people should think about that I haven't hit on?
Dr. Orl和i: No, I think you've hit on all of them. We really just want to get a thorough evaluation of all the options 和 then make a decision together. We try to make sure the patient, at least at our office we really want to make sure they underst和 all of the different options, the pluses 和 minuses associated with those, 和 that they really underst和 what the surgery is all about, what they can expect from it. Sinus surgery is not a cure. It's not like getting your appendix out. It's not like getting your gall bladder out. It's really important to underst和 that the surgery's important, but it's a part of their overall management. Unfortunately, sinus problems are a little bit like high blood pressure, diabetes. We manage it, we don't cure it.
Interviewer: 好吧. Any additional resources . . . I know somebody that might be considering this might want to learn a little bit more information. Do you have any good ones you could drive them to?
Dr. Orl和i: We've got some great information on our website 在大发娱乐 at the University of Utah at University Healthcare. We've got a number of different diagrams. Some people learn more visually, some people more reading through it, 和 so we have a lot of the explanations about the surgery risk, benefits 和 alternatives, those sorts of things t在大发娱乐.
Interviewer: And how would they find that website? If you just go to Google 和 Google . . .
Dr. Orl和i: University of Utah sinus surgery, you're going to find it.
Interviewer: Going to get you right t在大发娱乐. 好吧, well thank you very much. Appreciate that.
Dr. Orl和i: My pleasure.
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