Comparison of nasal packs with transseptal suturing after nasal septal surgery

Objectives: To investigate the effects of transseptal suturing against two different types of nasal packs with respect to pain, operative time and postoperative complications following nasal septal surgery. Patients and methods: One hundred and fifty patients (aged 18-61 years) scheduled for nasal septal surgery were included. Following surgery, three types of nasal packing systems were utilized: (1) transseptal suturing (Group A: 50 patients); (2) internal nasal splint (Group B: 50 patients); (3) a Merocel standard 8-cm nasal dressing without airway (Group C: 50 patients) to the patients. Postoperative pain, operation time, septal perforation and synechiae formation were evaluated. Results: The difference between mean operative time of groups B and C was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The difference between operative time of the two groups against group A was statistically significant (p<0.05). The mean postoperative pain scores were 2.8 +/- 1.2 (median 2) in group A, 6.1 +/- 1.3 (median 6) in group B, and 7.3 +/- 1.2 (median 7) in group C 1 h to 48 h post-surgery. Merocel and internal nasal splint tampons were found to be significantly more painful than transseptal suturing during 48 h (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in terms of infection, hematoma, synechiae formation or perforation between the groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: The use of transseptal suturing technique is a useful alternative to packing, with only minor increase in operating time. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.