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CPRMC offers relief for sinus sufferers

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Since it opened a year ago, Cedar Park Regional Medical Center has had a lot to offer residents of Cedar Park. Along with a beautiful facility and skilled doctors, CPRMC now has the Acclarent Stratus Microflow Spacer - a unique procedure to help those with chronic sinus trouble.

This new procedure allows the spacer to be implanted for up to two weeks to target the area with medicine. The procedure takes away the need to remove the affected area.

“We're using a very small catheter that serves as a medicine delivery system by allowing a slow dilution of the medications into the sinus to fight the inflammation,” said Dr. Russell Briggs, an otolaryngologist who performs the surgery at CPRMC. “It is an easier procedure for patients and incredibly effective.”

Dana Mathison, marketing generalist at CPRMC, said the technology is relatively new on the market with only 50 doctors in the whole country currently using the technique - and CPRMC has two of them.

Briggs and fellow otolaryngologist Dr. Karen Stierman perform the procedure at CPRMC and are the only two doctors in Travis and Williamson Counties to offer it.

“The procedure is exclusive to this hospital,” said Mathison, who said the first procedure at CPRMC was done in September.

The hospital performs about 12 of the procedures every month and staff have already heard good things from patients.

Patient Michael Sutcliffe was one of nearly 39 million people who are affected by sinusitis every year. Since having the procedure, Sutcliffe said, “I am enjoying a much better quality of life. I didn't realize just how difficult it was to breathe until I had this new procedure and now my sinuses are wide open.”

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