Professor Tran Phan Chung Thuy, Director of the Ear, Nose, and Throat Center at Tam Anh General Hospital, TP HCM, stated that traditionally, sinonasal surgery relied heavily on a surgeon's experience. Now, a navigation system integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) enables surgeons to precisely identify structures requiring intervention, thereby enhancing effectiveness and reducing complications.

Data from the Tam Anh hospital system, collected from June to December 2025, shows that AI-integrated endoscopic sinonasal surgeries averaged 87.8 minutes, with patients losing 22 ml of blood and staying in the hospital for 2.1 days. No complications, recurrences, or readmissions were recorded post-surgery. In contrast, conventional surgeries typically last 100-130 minutes, involve 50-150 ml of blood loss, and require a 3-4 day hospital stay.

For instance, Nam, 40 years old, previously underwent sinus surgery for sinusitis complicated by a mucocele invading his eye socket. For nearly one year, his condition continuously recurred, causing severe swelling in his eye socket and vision impairment. A CT scan revealed a lesion compressing the deep fat within the orbit, pushing inflammation towards the eye socket and obstructing the patient's sinus opening.

According to doctors, Nam's prolonged pansinusitis had spread to his eye socket, with inflammatory tissue eroding the bone and creating a fistula between the sinus and the orbit. Surgery was necessary to prevent the risk of vision loss. Before the operation, Nam's CT images were uploaded to a three-dimensional navigation system (IGS), where AI technology synchronized anatomical data and recreated a 3D image on screen.

Professor Chung Thuy (far right) observes the endoscope screen and the AI navigation system screen to perform surgery for the patient. Photo: Tam Anh General Hospital

Monitoring both the endoscope and navigation screens simultaneously, Professor Chung Thuy widened both frontal sinuses, removed inflamed and edematous tissue, aspirated thick pus from the left frontal sinus, and extracted a 3 cm-long clump of green pus. Post-surgery, Nam experienced reduced eye socket pain, his vision was unaffected, his health stabilized, and he was discharged after one day.

Professor Chung Thuy (second from right) uses a probe to check the connection of the actual anatomical structure with the CT image on the AI-powered navigation screen. Photo: Hospital provided

Thi, 70 years old, suffered from severe headaches and proptosis for over one year. Believing it to be a brain tumor, she found no improvement with medication. An MRI revealed a lesion completely filling her left frontal sinus, causing outward bulging and thinning of the posterior superior wall of the left frontal sinus. Doctors diagnosed pansinusitis and a left frontal sinus mucocele, located near the skull base at the superolateral angle of the orbit. The mucocele increased pressure within the sinus, irritating surrounding nerves and leading to persistent headaches.

Thi presented with abnormal sinus structure, narrowed frontal sinus drainage pathways, and calcified frontal bone, despite no prior surgeries. According to Professor Chung Thuy, accessing the mucocele was hazardous due to its proximity to the eye socket and skull base, posing a high risk of eye damage or cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Without an AI-powered navigation system, an open surgery would likely have been necessary to remove the mass. Open surgery is more invasive, relies heavily on surgeon experience, and carries longer recovery times and higher risks.

Thi underwent endoscopic surgery using the artificial intelligence navigation system to open her left frontal sinus and remove the mucocele. The surgical team approached the mucocele obliquely, aided by an endoscopic camera, meticulously removing all inflamed tissue from the affected area. Post-surgery, Thi's health stabilized, and she was discharged after two days. During follow-up, she reported no more headaches, resolved proptosis, and cleared nasal congestion.

In the coming time, doctors plan to apply the navigation system in endoscopic surgery for benign and malignant sinonasal tumors, as well as more complex pathologies.

Uyen Trinh