Persistent hypertrophy of the inferior turbinate is one of the most common
causes of nasal obstruction. There is no general agreement among
rhinologists about the best operation to relieve nasal obstruction in cases
of inferior turbinate hypertrophy. Three techniques were used for reduction
of hypertrophied inferior turbinate in patients refractory to medical
treatment. Group 1 included 20 patients treated by radiofrequency energy
(R.F). for turbinate reduction, group II incluciPd 25 patients treated by
submucous diathermy (SMD) of inferior turbinate and group III included
24 patients treated by submucous resection SMR of the inferior bony turbinate.
The severity of the pre- and postoperative nasal obstruction was
evaluated by visual analogue scale (VAS) 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 significantly
at 4 weeks follow up. Although our results confirmed that SMR of
the inferior turbinate bone is an effective method of shrinkage of the inferior
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 turbinate.
Moreover the patient satisfaction and lack of morbidity of RF energy
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. |
