Endo-nasal surgeries without nasal packing or splints - A retrospective review of postoperative bleeding complications in 300 patients

✍ Scribed by Sashikanth Jonnalagadda; Vivian.M. Yu; Peter. Catalano

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 51 KB
• Volume: 121
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0023-852X
• DOI: 10.1002/lary.22318

✦ Synopsis

Objectives-Nasal packing and splints have evolved over the years. Though effective in preventing postoperative bleeding complications, they are associated with significant morbidity and pain. The goal of this study is to review the postoperative bleeding complications in 300 endoscopic nasal surgeries where in we use no nasal packing, splints.

Study Design-Retrospective chart analysis.

Materials and methods-

We retrospectively reviewed 300 cases of endoscopic nasal surgeries with no nasal packing or splints done at a tertiary care center. Data was collected regarding the patient demographics, the type of procedure done and the incidence of postoperative bleeding complications Results. 300 patients were retrospectively analyzed with a male female ratio of 1.57:1.and a mean age was 47. Of these 300 patients 294 patients had septoplasty with concomitant procedures that included inferior turbinate reduction in 234 (78%), synechia release in 33 (11%), excision of concha bullosa in 64 (21.3%) and FESS in 292(97.3%). Five patients had septoplasty alone and one patient had nasal mass excision. Postoperative hemorrhage was seen in 8 patients (2.67%) and septal hematoma in 1(0.003%). Only 2 of the 8 patients with postoperative hemorrhage underwent nasal packing subsequently to control bleeding. The incidence of bleeding complications was comparable to studies in literature in which nasal packing or splints were used.

Conclusion-Our study shows that avoidance of nasal packing and splints does not increase the incidence of bleeding complications after intra nasal surgeries while significantly decreasing the morbidity to the patients.