The book, published by Springer, an international publisher of scientific and professional publications, is a comprehensive information source on the anatomy and management of frontal sinus disorders.
"This is the final frontier," Dr. Kountakis says of frontal sinuses that are behind the forehead and run parallel to the eyebrows. "If there is any area we are having problems managing, it's the frontal sinus."
The proximity of the frontal sinuses to the eyes and brain makes it a dangerous place to operate; the fact that they drain into the sinuses between the eyes – the most common site of sinus infections – can create chronic problems. "Once there is a problem in the frontal sinus or surgery is necessary, it's just a much more difficult area to handle in general," says Dr. Kountakis, who authored a chapter for the book on an endoscopic approach to relieving chronically inflamed frontal sinuses.
Co-editors are Dr. Brent A. Senior, associate professor and chief of Rhinology, Allergy and Sinus Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Dr. Wolfgang Draf, professor and chair of the Department of ENT-Diseases, Head, Neck and Facial Plastic Surgery, Communication Disorders, Klinikum Fulda gAG, Teaching Hospital of the Philipps-University Marburg in Germany.
Other MCG contributors include Dr. Ramon E. Figueroa, neuroradiologist; Dr. Christine G. Gourin, otolaryngologist; Dr. David J. Terris, chair, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery; and Dr. Joseph Sullivan, neuroradiology fellow.
Dr. Kountakis came to MCG in 2003 from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where he was associate professor and director of the Division of Rhinology and the Virginia Sinus Center. At MCG, he also directs the Georgia Sinus and Allergy Center, the rhinology fellowship and the otolaryngology residency program.
He has been a member of the board of directors of the American Rhinologic Society since 2002. He just completed a two-year term associate editor of The American Journal of Rhinology. He is a member of the review board for Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, an editorial board member of Ear, Nose & Throat Journal and a reviewer for The Laryngoscope and other journals in his specialty.
Dr. Kountakis is a 1988 graduate of the University of Texas-Houston Medical School and completed his otolaryngology residency at University of Texas-affiliated Hermann Hospital, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital.