Complete removal of nasopharyngeal fibrovascular tumor via nasal endoscopy

One day in March 2013, Director Wang of the ENT Department of the Yunnan Armed Police Force called me and mentioned that a soldier of the Armed Police had a nose bleed and was diagnosed with “nasopharyngeal fibrovascular tumor”, which remained in the local provincial hospital one month after surgery. After I reported to Director Shan Xizheng, he instructed me to transfer the patient to our department quickly. We learned through inquiry that the patient had more bleeding during the operation in Kunming and that the lesion was hard and most of it could not be removed. Nasopharyngeal fibrovascular tumor is commonly found in young people and is a benign mass, but its growth behavior is more malignant, growing near the pterygoid canal at the base of the skull, which can invade into the skull and orbit, causing visual and cranio-cerebral changes, extremely rich blood supply, much bleeding during surgery, more difficult, and easy to recur after surgery. For this reason, we further performed detailed head angiography to clarify the site, scope, relationship of surrounding important structures, and blood supply vessels of the lesion. During the operation, the hemorrhage was adequately stopped by plasma and bipolar electrocoagulation, and the bone at the root of the tumor was removed by high-speed electric drill to achieve complete resection. The surgery went well and the young soldier was discharged on the 4th day after surgery and returned to the army happily. Before the Spring Festival, Director Wang of Yunnan Headquarters called excitedly that the patient had recovered well from the nasal surgery site on review, and the review image CT and MRI showed complete resection of the lesion with no residue and no recurrence. I further introduced to Director Wang the features of nasal endoscopy for nasal skull base tumor: minimally invasive, no incision on the face, fast postoperative recovery, and few complications. We have accumulated rich experience in transnasal endoscopic skull base surgery and have treated more difficult diseases for armed forces soldiers. As long as the equipment allows us to provide technical support for Yunnan General Hospital, we can better realize the concept of serving soldiers and supporting the grassroots.