Nose and sinus
Chronic rhinosinusitis, nasal polyps, nasal obstruction and the nose’s structure, from first-line medical therapy to revision surgery and biologic treatment.
What we treat
- Chronic rhinosinusitis with and without nasal polyps (CRSwNP, CRSsNP)
- Severe and recurrent polyp disease, including aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD)
- Nasal obstruction: septal deviation, turbinate hypertrophy and nasal valve collapse
- Allergic and non-allergic rhinitis
- Frontal sinus disease and mucocoeles
- Loss of smell
- Rhinoplasty and nasal reconstruction
- Orbital surgery, including orbital tumours and orbital decompression
Referrals
Public referrals follow St Vincent’s Hospital’s established referral process; the referral form and how to send it are on the St Vincent’s Hospital ENT page. Private referrals go directly to the surgeon’s rooms.
Allergic rhinitis and nasal obstruction referrals are triaged under the NSW State-wide Referral Criteria.
Helpful to include: duration of symptoms, treatment tried (intranasal steroid, saline, oral steroids), asthma or aspirin sensitivity, any recent CT of the sinuses and a full blood count with eosinophil count.
Severe sinus disease and nasal polyps
Nasal polyps are a chronic inflammatory condition, not a growth that surgery alone cures. Treatment is matched to the pattern of inflammation: intranasal steroids and saline for most, endoscopic sinus surgery to open the sinuses and deliver topical therapy, and for patients with severe type 2 disease — asthma, aspirin sensitivity, high blood eosinophils, recurrence after surgery — biologic therapy (dupilumab, mepolizumab, omalizumab) under the PBS criteria.
The Rhinology and Skull Base Service has one of Australia’s largest experiences with biologic therapy for CRSwNP and runs the national mepolizumab registry. Research is published through the Sydney Rhinology Group.
Our surgeons
The department’s consultant surgeons work across the full breadth of otolaryngology, head and neck and skull base surgery. Each consults publicly through St Vincent’s Hospital and privately in their own rooms.