Efficacy of Nasal Splints in Reducing the Incidence of Intranasal Adhesions Following Septoplasty

Objective: To determine the efficacy of nasal splints in preventing adhesion formation in patients undergoing septoplasty for deviated nasal septum (DNS). Study Design: Quasi experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at ENT department, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi from January 2010 to January 2011. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and sixty patients with DNS requiring septoplasty were included in this study. They were divided in two groups A and B with each group consisting of 130 patients. In group A splints were used postoperatively after septoplasty while in group B no splints were used. In group A nasal splints were removed on 14th postoperative day. All patients in group A and B were followed up regularly in OPD for six weeks for development of adhesions to determine efficacy of nasal splints in prevention of adhesions. Results: In group A average age was 29.13 years+10.11SD while it was 27.6 years+ 9.5SD in group B. Male to female ratio was 1.15:1. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adhesion formation between two groups with p-value of 0.734. Conclusion: There is no significant advantage of routinely using intranasal splints in septoplasty patients for prevention of adhesion formation.