Do the Material and Time of Nasal Packing Influence the Prognosis of Septomeatal Plasty?

Abstract

Objectives:

The purpose of this retrospective, randomized study was to analyze the influence of the material and time of nasal packing on the prognosis of Septomeatal plasty (SMP).

Methods:

We collected 120 patients who received SMP and randomly adopted Merocel (non-resolvable) or Nasapore (biodegradable) as nasal packing during January to July 2012. Forty-five cases (group N) adopted Nasapore, which was left in the nasal cavity and resolved spontaneously without manipulation. Those who used Merocel were further divided into 3 subgroups by the time of packing removal. The Merocel was randomly removed after the surgery on day one ( M1:20 cases), day two (M2:39 cases) or day three (M3:16 cases). We compare these 4 groups in two aspects: 1) Medical resource consumptions, including the duration of medication, times of follow-up, and period of treatment; 2) Postoperative complications, including bleeding, adhesion formation, subsequent septal hematoma, and septal perforation.

Results:

The Kruskal-Willis Test was adopted to analyze the medical resource consumption items: duration of medication (weeks): N (2±0.6), M1 (2±0.3), M2 (2±0.7), M3 (2±0.6), P= 0.899; times of follow-up: N (3.5±0.9), M1 (3.7±1.1), M2 (3.5±1), M3 (3.2±1), P= 0.585; period of treatment (weeks): N (4.3±1.4), M1 (4.8±1.7), M2 (4.8±1.4), M3 (4.2±1.6), P= 0.225. There were no significant differences among these 4 groups. We used Chi-square test to analyze the incidence of postoperative complications, and there were no significant differences among these 4 groups either (p>0.05).

Conclusions:

The material and time of nasal packing seem to make no differences on the prognosis of SMP. Since prolonged nasal packing may cause more discomfort, we should consider shortening the packing time to provide higher patient satisfaction.