Factors Predictive of Outcome in Inferior Turbinate Surgery

The purpose of the study was to examine the various preoperative predictive factors of inferior turbinate surgery and to find possible factors that predict an optimal subjective response using 3 common surgical techniques-radiofrequency ablation (RFA), diode laser, and microdebrider-assisted inferior turbinoplasty (MAIT)-in a randomized, prospective study with a 1-year follow-up.

The patients filled a visual analogue scale (VAS) questionnaire regarding the severity of nasal obstruction prior to and 1 year after surgery. A VAS score improvement of 3 points or more was chosen as an optimal subjective response. Univariate and multivariate regressions were used to evaluate the effect of the predictive factors. In total, 80 patients attended a 1-year control visit.

In the multivariate analysis, patients without anterior septal deviation had a statistically significantly higher odds ratio of a satisfactory subjective response compared to patients with anterior septal deviation (5.6; 95% CI: 1.4-23.1; P = .02). Patients treated with RFA had a statistically significantly higher odds ratio of an optimal subjective response compared to patients treated with MAIT (9.0; 95% CI: 1.5-54.2; P = .02).

Anterior septal deviation seems to decrease the likelihood of an optimal subjective response to inferior turbinate surgery, which supports the consideration of concomitant septoplasty at least in clear cases to optimize the subjective response. Radiofrequency ablation had a significantly higher likelihood of an optimal subjective response compared to MAIT. Further investigations regarding the findings are needed.