Abstract The objective of the study was to evaluate the
outcome of septoplasty without inferior turbinectomy in
patients with septum deviation and nasal obstruction. After
exclusion of allergic rhinitis, this study included 30 patients
with deviated nasal septum and hypertrophied inferior
nasal turbinate who were prepared for septoplasty without
turbinectomy. After full history taking and complete
otorhinological examination, all patients graded their
extent of obstruction using the Nasal Obstruction Symp-
toms Evaluation scale and underwent CT scans to evaluate
the side and shape of deviation, thickness of the medial and
lateral mucosa and inferior conchal bone on both the
concave and convex sides. Postoperative (PO) follow-up
consisted of evaluation of surgical outcome, nasal
obstruction grading and patient’s satisfaction. CT imaging
was repeated for evaluation of the previous items and to
compare with preoperative data. All surgeries were con-
ducted smoothly without intraoperative complications and
all were managed as day surgery. The mean duration of
follow-up was 20.1 ± 4.4 months. All patients showed
progressive significant decline of nasal obstruction symp-
toms and only eight patients still had mild symptoms.
Patients’ satisfaction scores showed significant progressive
increase reaching a peak at the 12th month. Preoperative
CT confirmed the presence of hypertrophied mucosa on the
concave septal side with significantly thicker medial and
non-significantly thicker lateral mucosa on the concave
side compared to the convex side. At the 12th month PO,
mean medial mucosal thickness significantly decreased on
the concave side with significant increase on the convex
side, but the effect was significantly pronounced on the
concave side. Mean lateral mucosal thickness was signifi-
cantly decreased on the concave and non-significantly
increased on the convex side. Conchal bone thickness
showed non-significant change despite the diminution on
both sides In the absence of allergic rhinitis, septoplasty
without turbinectomy significantly improves nasal
obstruction-related manifestations and approaches high
patient satisfaction with associated reduction of hypertro-
phied mucosa and spares turbinectomy-related complica-
tions.
Keywords Septoplasty Turbinectomy CT
Mucosal thickness |
