Dr. K. Christopher McMains - Assistant Professor

Rhinology

One may wonder: why someone might enter a subspecialty that they are forbidden from talking about at dinner parties and parents’ day at school?  Here, there is no steamy tale of a long-standing love-affair with snot.  In truth, there may be no good “sound bite” answer.  However, there is the opportunity to work in complex and infinitely-variable anatomy, the opportunity to work with colleagues from other specialties (principally Ophthalmology and Neurosurgery), the opportunity to utilize rapidly-developing technology in a field that is equally rapidly-changing, and to improve a patient’s quality of life.   People around here often hear me describing something as “Wildly fascinating!”  It brings out the geek in me…

So, what is a Rhinologist and how do you get to be one?  Every ENT surgeon receives training in Endoscopic Sinus Surgery and is, on some level, a Rhinologist.  Recognizing the expansion of knowledge and technique within the past several years, several fellowships have begun to provide additional training in the field of Rhinology.  There is a fellowship match program in which some 21 programs (and growing) participate.  The types of training that one would receive in a fellowship will depend on the center at which they choose to train. This can involve such areas as allergy/immunology, thyroid eye disease and orbital decompression, endoscopic access to pituitary tumors, endoscopic resection of skull-base lesions, and advanced techniques to access the frontal sinus. 

Many of these techniques completely treat lesions in a less morbid way than previously possible.  For example, skull base lesions previously required a major external craniofacial approach.  With advancement of endoscopic techniques, in selected cases, this sort of open approach with its associated morbidity can be avoided.  Because the application of fiberoptic technology to sinus surgery is relatively recent, the boundaries of what is technically feasible continue to expand - all to the benefit of our patients!

I hope this gives a fair representation of Rhinology and perhaps, piques your interest.

K. Christopher McMains, MD