Investigation of Surgical Precision and Efficiency in A Laboratory Model of Endoscopic Endonasal Dural Suturing: is 3D Endoscopy Superior to 2D Endoscopy?

Background: Endonasal suturing (ES) for primary dural repair has been reported by some authors to dramatically reduce the incidence of CSF fistulas following expanded endonasal approaches. However, this technique is infrequently utilized in contemporary neurosurgical practice because of a steep technical learning curve felt to relate to instrument- and corridor-specific variables, as well as limitations, in depth perception associated with 2D endoscopy. Improvements in depth perception provided by newer generation 3D endoscopes may facilitate enhanced surgical dexterity in the endonasal corridor; however, this remains poorly investigated.