Otolaryngology (ENT)

ECMC’s otolaryngology (ENT) specialists treat conditions and diseases related to the ears, nose, and throat, including:

• Maxillofacial (jaw and face) trauma
• Advanced head and neck cancer
• Ear disorders
• Hearing loss
• Dizziness
• Communication and voice disorders
• Allergic, infectious, and inflammatory diseases of the head/neck

ECMC offers a number of treatments and procedures within the Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic, including:

• Hearing aid evaluation
• Placement of ear tubes
• Removal of skin cancers
• Pre- and post-surgical consultations

Led by Drs. Matthew Kabalan and Troy Woodard, the Center for Sinus and Skull Base Surgery is contained with ECMC’s Department of Otolaryngology and it is the only rhinology & endoscopic skull base service available in Western New York, specializing in Rhinology, which is a subspecialty focused on treating diseases affecting the paranasal sinuses and the anterior skull base. Both Drs. Kabalan and Woodard are also affiliated with UBMD. Rhinologists utilize minimally invasive, endoscopic techniques to address many conditions, including but not limited to, complicated sinus disease; cerebrospinal fluid leaks; and sinus, nasal, and skull base tumors.

Dr. Kabalan has trained with internationally renowned rhinologists and skull base neurosurgeons and will pair with neurosurgical partners to provide oncologic care for a variety of sinonasal and skull base tumors through a minimally invasive, endoscopic approach. And Dr. Woodard is also an internationally respected surgeon who previously led rhinology, sinus and skull base surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.

Conditions Treated by Rhinologists/Endoscopic Skull Base Surgeons

Sinus/nasal

• Chronic sinusitis/rhinosinusitis of all causes
• Nasal polyps
• Deviated nasal septum
• Inferior turbinate hypertrophy
• Nasal/sinus mass or tumor, both benign and malignant
• Chronic rhinitis of all causes (allergic, vasomotor, etc.)
• Hyposmia/anosmia
• Epistaxis, including due to inherited conditions such as a hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT)
• Mucocele

Skull base

• Sinonasal cancers
• Intracranial and other skull base tumors – pituitary tumors, meningioma, craniopharyngioma, chordoma, and more
• Cerebrospinal fluid leaks from the nose, including spontaneous, posttraumatic, iatrogenic

Orbit – certain eye pathologies can be accessed and treated through an endonasal endoscopic approach

• Epiphora / nasolacrimal duct obstruction / excessive tearing
• Thyroid eye disease / Graves orbitopathy
• Orbital tumors (in select cases)

Common Rhinology Procedures Performed – Note that the following procedures are all performed endoscopically through the nose

• Sinus surgery
• Nasal airway surgery (e.g., septoplasty, inferior turbinate reduction)
• Repair of cerebrospinal fluid leaks
• Medial orbital decompression
• Dacryocystorhinostomy
• Control of epistaxis, including sclerotherapy for HHT
• Posterior nasal nerve ablation
• Resection of sinus/nasal tumors
• Resection of central nervous system and skull base tumors accessible through the nose, in conjunction with neurosurgery