Improved video documentation of endoscopic sinus surgery made possible with desktop digital video

Endoscopic cameras in endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) allow for easy video documentation of surgery. This often leads to the build-up of extensive videocassette libraries where the prospective viewer is subjected to a lengthy and cumbersome videotape search before accessing a sequence of interest. Footage is difficult to use for educational purposes. New techniques for storing, retrieving, and presenting ESS video footage were developed. Desktop computer systems were used to digitize video footage. Short video sequences containing highlights of interesting ESS cases were prepared using video-editing programs. The resulting images were stored in individual segments on recordable CD-ROM disks. This technique was used to archive all video footage from our ESS procedures for a 6-month period. Archiving footage on CD-ROM rather than videotape has made the storage of large quantities of information possible while now allowing for the random access of segment(s) of interest. It has simplified preparation of video projects, reduced production time 10-fold and has eliminated the need for professional video-editing services. These techniques have also been adapted for the development of an educational CD-ROM demonstrating the component steps of ESS, which can be played back on any CD-ROM-equipped computer.