Post-operative Complications after Different Turbinates Operations (Comparative Study)

Area of Science:

• Otorhinolaryngology
• Surgical Techniques
• Nasal Airway Disorders

Background:

• Inferior turbinate hypertrophy is a primary cause of nasal blockage.
• Turbinate reduction procedures aim to alleviate nasal obstruction.
• Comparing complication rates of different turbinate reduction techniques is crucial for patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the incidence of postoperative complications for endoscopic submucosal diathermy and radiofrequency ablation in turbinate reduction.
• To compare the efficacy and safety of these two surgical techniques.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective randomized comparative study involving 40 patients with bilateral nasal blockage.
• Patients were randomly assigned to either submucosal diathermy (Group 1, n=20) or radiofrequency ablation (Group 2, n=20).
• Postoperative complications were assessed and quantified for both groups.

Main Results:

• Radiofrequency ablation showed a lower complication rate at one week (5.5% vs. 11%), one month (3.5% vs. 9%), and six months (2.7% vs. 5%) compared to submucosal diathermy.
• A significant difference in complication rates was observed between the two techniques over time.
• Both procedures aimed to reduce inferior turbinate hypertrophy causing nasal blockage.

Conclusions:

• Radiofrequency ablation demonstrates a significantly lower rate of postoperative complications than submucosal diathermy for inferior turbinate reduction.
• Radiofrequency ablation offers an improved safety profile for treating nasal blockage due to inferior turbinate hypertrophy.
• The study supports radiofrequency ablation as a preferred method for turbinate reduction.