Comparison of the Effectiveness and Safety of Radiofrequency Turbinoplasty and Traditional Surgical Technique in Treatment of Inferior Turbinate Hypertrophy

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Inferior turbinate hypertrophy is one of the major causes of nasal airway obstruction. Medical treatment often produces insufficient improvements. In these cases, surgical reduction of inferior turbinates can be proposed. Many different techniques are currently available. We prospectively evaluate the safety and effectiveness of radiofrequency volumetric tissue reduction (RFVTR) compared with the traditional surgical technique.

METHODS: The study was conducted on 3 groups of 75 patients with symptoms and signs of nasal obstruction associated with inferior turbinate hypertrophy refractory to medical therapy. In group A, the turbinoplasty (TP) was performed using the classical surgical submucosal resection; in group B, the RFVTR was applied to inferior turbinate; and group C patients were not treated and served as control subjects. Nasal endoscopy, visual analogue scale (VAS), anterior active positional rhinomanometry, and saccharin tests were used to assess treatment outcomes at the end of week 1 and months 1 and 3 after surgery.

RESULTS: Turbinate edema and secretions decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in groups A and B from 1 month after surgery. The secretions in group A increased temporarily on the seventh day after surgery. Concerning the nasal obstruction and related symptoms, significant improvement was observed at 1 month after treatment in all patients (P < 0.05) and continued up to 3 months after surgery (P < 0.0001). Rhinomanometric measurements demonstrated a significant nasal flow increase at 3 months (P < 0.0001). The nasal mucociliary transport time increased in group A at week 1. The difference among the 3 groups at month 1 was observed not significant.

CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrated that both RFVTR and TP are effective in improving nasal obstruction and related nasal symptoms. In support of the RFVTR, different factors are important: it can be performed in local anaesthesia; it does not require a nasal package; it does not cause either a change of mucociliary function or an increase of secretions and crusts; and the patient can be discharged immediately after treatment. Therefore, we suggest that the RFVTR offers an efficient, gentle, and function-maintaining alternative to TP. However, because of the short follow-up, future investigations are needed for a more exhaustive evaluation of equivalency of the 2 turbinate procedures.

EBM RATING: B-2