Persistent hypertrophy of the inferior turbinate is one of the most com
mon causes of nasal obstruction. There is no general agreement among
rhlnologists about the best operation to relieve nasal obstruction in cases
of inferior turbinate hypertrophy. Three techniques were used for reduc
tion of hypertrophied inferior turbinate in patients refractory to medical
treatment. Group 1 included 20 patients treated by radiofrequency ener
gy (R.F). for turbinate reduction, group II included 25 patients treated by
submucous diathermy ISMD) of inferior turbinate and group III included
24 patients treated by submucous resection SMR of the inferior bony tarbinate.
The severity of the pre- and postoperative nasal obstruction was
evaluated by visual analogue scale (VASI and acoustic rhinometry. There
was a significant improvement of severity of nasal obstruction in patients
treated by RF energy after 1 week. At the completion of the study at 6
months significant improvement was seen in 90% of patients. In group II
the improvement of mean nasal obstruction reached a significant value at
8 weeks and in group III the severity of nasal obstruction improved signif
icantly at 4 weeks follow up. Although our results confirmed that SMR of
the inferior turbinate bone is an effective method of shrinkage of the infe
rior turbinate, the complications of a relatively more bleeding during the
operation, mild postoperative bleeding, postoperative discomfort and mild
to moderate crusting lead us to recommend RF ablation of the inferior tur
binate. Moreover the patient satisfaction and lack of morbidity ofRF ener
gy tissue ablation of the inferior turbinate would make this method easy
to repeat for recurrent nasal obstruction and makes it a good alternative
to other traditional methods. |
