Comparison of septoplasty with and without packing and splints.

Abstract

Objective: During septoplasty, nasal packing is routinely used by surgeons for hemostasis and balancing the cartilage and bony skeleton of the nose. However, these new techniques are not totally mild and therefore new ways are adopted to check their efficiency and reason their value. The study was performed to compare the use of plastic intranasal splints with or without anterior nasal packing to determine the need of nasal packing after septoplasty. Study Design: Comparative Study. Setting: ISRA University Hyderabad. Period: March 2018 to April 2019. Material & Methods: A total of 50 patients presenting with nasal septum in this period were prospectively examined. For the purpose of comparative study, we divided the patients into two groups: Group A –Patients who underwent septoplasty with packing and Group-B –Patients who underwent septoplasty without packing. We recorded the pain felt using Visual analogue scale before and after the surgery and also noted the Mean Age gender wise and recorded treatment results for statistical analysis using SPSS Version-20. Results: In our data, a total fifty (50) patients comprising 28 Males (68%) and 22 Females (32%) were listed in the study. The mean± standard deviation VAS scores of Group-A was at 5.2 ±0.9 and Group-B is 2.9±0.61 showing less pain in Group B-without splints and packing. However the complication rate in patients without Splints and packing was only 18%. Conclusion: Thus we find septoplasty without nasal splints and packing is more effective and cause lesser bleeding and pain to patients.