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JH Jang*, Y Hao**, ST Toh***
* Department of Otolaryngology, Singapore General Hospital
** Health Services Research Unit (HSRU), Singapore General Hospital
*** Department of Otolaryngology, Singapore General Hospital
Introduction:
Inferior turbinate reduction surgery with or without septoplasty are commonly surgical procedures indicated for nasal obstruction, and require post-operative nasal packing. However the duration of nasal packing has not been well studied.
Aims:
In this retrospective review, we aim to investigate the effect of duration of nasal packing on the rates of primary (first 24-hours post-operatively) and secondary (24 hours to 1 month post operatively) post-operative haemorrhage.
Methods:
Patients who presented to our single institution and underwent inferior turbinate reduction surgery over a two-year period were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were grouped into three groups – those who received no nasal packing, 24-hour nasal packing and 48-hour nasal packing post-operatively. The incidence of primary and secondary haemorrhage was compared across all three groups by univariate analysis. Primary haemorrhage was defined as bleeding within the first 24-hours and secondary haemorrhage was defined as bleeding between 24 hours to 1 month post-operatively.
Results:
There was no significant difference in rates of primary haemorrhage across all three groups (p=0.133). There was also no significant difference in rates of secondary haemorrhage across all three groups (p=0.077). The group with no packing had the highest rate of primary haemorrhage and the group with 48 hour packing had the highest rate of secondary haemorrhage.
Conclusion:
24-hour post-operative nasal packing is optimal for patients who undergo inferior turbinate reduction surgery with or without septoplasty.
References:
1. Weber R, Hochapfel F, Draf W. (2000) Packing and stents in endonasal surgery. Rhinology. 38(2):49-62.
2. Awan MS, Iqbal M. (2008) Nasal packing after septoplasty: a randomized comparison of packing versus no packing in 88 patients. Ear Nose Throat Journal. 87(11):624-7.
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