Patient profile, indications, complications and evaluation of septoplasty outcome in a base hospital in Sri Lanka

Introduction A large percentage of the population has some degree of deviated nasal septum causing symptoms of nasal obstruction. Nasal septoplasty is the surgery of choice for symptomatic nasal septal deviations. Objective To describe the patient profile, indications, complications and evaluation of septoplasty outcome using Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation scale. (NOSE) Method: Interviewer administered questionnaire and data collection sheet were the study instruments used for prospective (30 subjects) and retrospective (35 subjects) components respectively. Results Two thirds of the patients were in the 16-30 age group, 42% females and 48% males. 35% had a history of nasal trauma. 53% presented with allergic rhinitis and 20% with turbinate hypertrophy. More than 2/3rd presented with deviations in the Cephalic septum and S Shaped septum. 84% had dislocation from the maxillary crest. More than 90% of the subjects underwent, quadrangular cartilage trimming, vomer removal, perpendicular plate of ethmoid removal and maxillary Crest gouge. Plastic splints were used in 73% of the subjects and antibiotic was used in 26%. No septal perforations, infections or bleeding was reported from any of the 65 subjects. Pre and Post-operative (at 3 months), NOSE score was Mean 9.46; SD 4.36 and Mean 0.53; SD 0.97 respectively. When t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means was calculated t stat was 11.7153, while t critical two tail value was 2.0452 indicating that there is a statistically significant difference between the two means (p=0.05). Conclusion Septoplasty gave good results with minimum complications, resulting in significant improvement in disease specific quality of life