Dr. Boris Karanfilov

Boris Karanfilov, M.D. was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio.  During his teenage years he started and ran a successful small business on the very same property as his office.  There is a nice history of 5378 Avery Road here.  He attended Bishop Watterson High School graduating as a valedictorian and then completed his undergraduate degree in molecular biology at The Ohio State University graduating summa cum laude.

After earning his medical degree from Ohio State, he went on to do a one-year general surgical internship at Riverside Methodist Hospital. He completed his Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery residency at The Ohio State University Medical Center.

After residency, he was fortunate to secure a one-year fellowship in Rhinology and Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery with the world renowned Rhinologist, Frederick A. Kuhn, M.D.   Dr. Kuhn is an international authority and is the father of modern advanced frontal sinus surgery based on his innovative sinus instrument inventions and nomenclature for complicated frontal sinus anatomy.  He is undoubtedly considered one of the worlds best sinus surgeons and frequently is invited for dissection courses at national meetings.  While Dr. Karanfilov was in Savannah for his fellowship training, he helped develop new instruments for frontal sinus surgery and refined advanced techniques for frontal sinus surgery in revision patients.  Dr. Kuhn and Dr. Karanfilov presented original research on sphenoid sinus techniques and served as expert panelists at national meetings.

Dr. Karanfilov returned in 2003 and setup the first private ENT practice in Columbus in the last 30 years.  The Ohio Sinus Institute was established as a regional referral center based out of Mount Carmel West Hospital to serve as a Sinus Center of Excellence for the Central Ohio region.  The practice flourished and we quickly outgrew our space and built a state of the art freestanding office in Dublin, Ohio with the latest diagnostic and treatment technologies under one roof.

Dr. Karanfilov is the most experienced fellowship trained sinus surgeon in Columbus, Ohio and played an active role in recruiting younger specialists to the community.

Ohio Sinus Institute has always been active in cutting edge clinical research and has been involved in a number of research projects over the years.  In 2005, a new technology, balloon sinus dilation was introduced by a California based company and Dr. Karanfilov was invited to perform the first case in Ohio and served as a contributing author of the landmark clinical study that assessed the safety and effectiveness of this technology.  As the techniques evolved and were refined, balloon dilation of blocked sinus passageways were introduced for office use.  We performed our first in office balloon sinuplasty in 2007 and then joined a national clinical trial ORIOS I to test the feasibility of performing the procedure under local anesthesia in the office setting.  Dr. Karanfilov was then invited to be the primary author for the largest clinical trial to date, greater than 200 patients, to further refine and report on the results of office based balloon sinus dilation for chronic sinusitis sufferers.  This study was presented at the national annual American Rhinologic Society Meeting and was published in the highly respected peer reviewed journal, International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology in 2013.

As the result of this cutting edge research, Dr. Karanfilov has been invited to lecture nationally and internationally on balloon sinus dilation but also other complex Rhinologic topics.  He has travelled as an invited speaker and expert surgeon all over the U.S. and also internationally to Siberia, Dubai, Bulgaria, Spain and his ancestral country of Macedonia.  During these meetings he has performed both cadaveric dissections for participants and has performed live surgeries of both balloon dilation and advanced frontal sinus techniques.  In Siberia he performed two closed circuit televised cases for the entire Russian ENT society and was interviewed by local reporters.

Dr. Karanfilov has published on his research endeavors, instructed and developed sinus surgery courses for residents in training, lectured extensively and has authored a book chapter on endoscopic management of frontal sinus disease.

As a resident Dr. Karanfilov participated in Project Ear, a medical mission to the Dominican Republic to help patients in desperate need of ENT care.  He has continued his mission work with several trips to the Republic of Macedonia where he has been invited to perform surgeries and was the first surgeon in the country to perform an Endoscopic CSF Leak repair with Computer Navigational Image Guidance in 2010.

Our practices continue to thrive and grow and now further services are being offered in hearing and balance disorders.