Surgical Outcomes of Endoscopic Versus Conventional Septoplasty

The most common cause of nasal obstruction is a deviated nasal septum. It causes breathing difficulties and may eventually also cause sinusitis, epistaxis, sleep disturbances and snoring. The traditional surgeries of the nasal septum improve the nasal airway but do not fulfil the essential criteria in most instances. Endoscopic septoplasty is a fast-developing concept and gaining popularity as it provides a direct targeted approach to the septal anatomic deformity allowing a minimally invasive procedure under excellent visualization. The aim of this study is to compare the post-operative morbidity among conventional and endoscopic septoplasty. The present prospective study was conducted on 50 patients having deviated nasal septum. Patients were randomly divided into two groups of 25 each. Out of 50 patients, in 25 patients (Group A) Conventional septoplasty was done, whereas in other 25 patients (Group B) endoscopic septoplasty was done. The patients were followed up post-operatively at 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Study Design: comparative study. The mean of operating time (min) in Group A was 60.47 +/- 8.16 which was significantly higher as compared to Group B (39.7 +/- 6.73). (p value < .0001). The Mean of blood loss (mL) was significantly higher in Group A (88.67 +/- 8.77) as compared to Group B. (54.6 +/- 7.18). (p value < .0001). Post-operative NOSE score at one month was 7.33 +/- 1.5 in group A which was significantly higher as compared to Group B (5 +/- 1.41). (p value = 0.0007) whereas post-operative NOSE score at 3 months in Group A was 6.53 +/- 1.25 which was significantly higher as compared to Group B (4.4 +/- 1.78). Proportion of post-operative complications was comparable in Group A and Group B (No complication 80% vs. 92% respectively). According to the present study, both the conventional and endoscopic septoplasty procedures were effective in relieving nasal obstruction in the patients. Endoscopic septoplasty showed significantly better result than conventional septoplasty in terms of time taken for surgery, blood loss during the surgery, post-operative complications and in terms of quality of life as assessed by NOSE Score.