Purpose: To compare the surgical outcomes of endoscope-navigation (EN)-assisted orbital decompression and non-EN-assisted orbital decompression for Graves' orbitopathy (GO) and to assess the potential clinical advantage of EN in orbital decompression surgery.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study was performed on 227 orbits of 147 GO patients who underwent EN-assisted orbital decompression (185 orbits) or non-EN-assisted orbital decompression (42 orbits). Assessment included proptosis reduction, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), diplopia, ocular restriction and surgical complications.
Results: The proptosis reduction in the EN group was 0.9 mm greater than that in the non-EN group in the entire cohort (p = 0.004) and 1.0 mm greater than that in the non-EN group in the propensity score matching cohort (p = 0.025) at 2 years postoperatively. In all, 78.2% of orbits with sight-threatening GO in the EN group and 52.6% of orbits in the non-EN group showed BCVA improvement (p = 0.026). The proportion of patients with improvement in diplopia was significantly greater in the EN group than in the non-EN group (p = 0.026).
Conclusions: EN offers anatomical localization and deep-seated tissue visualization in orbital decompression and significantly improves the surgical outcomes for GO.
Keywords: endoscope-navigation-assisted surgery; graves’ orbitopathy; orbital decompression.