The evaluation of nasal mucociliary activity after septoplasty and external septorhinoplasty

The aim of this study was to evaluate the nasal mucociliary activity after septoplasty (SP) and external septorhinoplasty (eSRP). Twenty patients who had SP operation (group 1) and 15 patients who had eSRP operation (group 2) were enrolled in the study. On each case, mucociliary clearance (MCC) measurement was performed by saccharine test before surgery, and on the first and third months of postoperative period. Saccharine clearance time (SCT) of 28 healthy volunteers were measured to establish control values. The mean SCT in control group was 8.79 ± 2.63 min, in group 1 patients before surgery was 14.03 ± 1.68 min, in group 2 patients before surgery was 14.34 ± 1.70 min. The preoperative SCT values of the group 1 and group 2 were significantly higher than healthy controls (p < 0.05). While there were statistically significant differences between preoperative and postoperative third month SCT values of group 1 patients, and postoperative first month and postoperative third month SCT values of group 1 patients (p < 0.05), there was no statistically significant difference between preoperative and postoperative first and third months SCT values of group 2 patients. Nasal septal deviation impairs the nasal mucociliary activity. Septoplasty operation positively affects the MCC mechanism. On the other hand, we observed no significant effect of eSRP operation on mucociliary activity on the first and third months of postoperative period as compared with preoperative.