Comparative study of intranasal septal splints and nasal packs in patients undergoing nasal septal surgery

We conducted a prospective, comparative, interventional study to evaluate the role of intranasal septal splints and to compare the results of this type of support with those of conventional nasal packing. Our study population was made up of 60 patients, aged 18 to 50 years, who had undergone septoplasty for the treatment of a symptomatic deviation of the nasal septum at our tertiary care referral hospital. These patients were randomly divided into two groups according to the type of nasal support they would receive: 30 patients (25 men and 5 women, mean age: 23.3 yr) received bilateral intranasal septal splints and the other 30 (26 men and 4 women, mean age: 22.4 yr) underwent anterior nasal packing. Outcomes parameters included postoperative pain and a number of other variables. At 24 and 48 hours postoperatively, the splint group had significantly lower mean pain scores (p < 0.05). At 48 hours, the splint group experienced significantly fewer instances of nasal bleeding (p < 0.01), swelling over the face and nose (p < 0.01), watering of the eyes (p < 0.01), nasal discharge (p = 0.028), nasal obstruction (p < 0.001), and feeding difficulty (p = 0.028). Likewise, mean pain scores during splint or pack removal were significantly lower in the splint group (p < 0.01). At the 6-week follow-up, only 2 patients (6.7%) in the splint group exhibited a residual deformity, compared with 8 patients (26.7%) in the packing group (p = 0.038). Finally, no patient in the splint group had an intranasal adhesion at follow-up, while 4 (13.3%) in the packing group did (p < 0.05). We conclude that intranasal septal splints result in less postoperative pain without increasing postoperative complications, and thus they can be used as an effective alternative to nasal packing after septoplasty.