Short-term Postoperative Outcomes of Platelet-rich Plasma after Inferior Turbinate Radiofrequency

Introduction: To evaluate the effect of submucosal platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy on intraoperative bleeding and early postoperative pain and crusting in patients undergoing inferior turbinate radiofrequency. Methods: A total of 70 adult patients with isolated inferior turbinate hypertrophy were included in this prospective study and randomized to the PRP or control groups. PRP was prepared for all patients. After applying submucosal radiofrequency to the inferior turbinates under local anesthesia, submucosal PRP was injected into the study group, and submucosal saline was injected into the control group. Patient controls were performed by another specialist. The patients and the specialist who performed the controls were blinded to which group they were in. All patients were evaluated endoscopically 1, 7, and 21 days after the operation. Results: The mean age of the patients was 33.37 +/- 11.92 years (range: 18 to 54). The two groups had no significant differences in intraoperative bleeding and mucociliary clearance values (p>0.05). The amount of crusting and the visual analog scale pain values were significantly lower in the submucosal PRP-injected group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Submucosal injection of PRP after radiofrequency of the inferior turbinate reduces nasal obstruction and pain due to crusting. With these features, it can be concluded that this procedure accelerates recovery and increases patient comfort in the early postoperative period.