Nasal septal surgery: evaluation of symptomatic and general health outcomes

Abstract

Although septoplasty and submucous resections are common procedures, there have been very few studies on the outcome of nasal septal surgery. This prospective study of two hundred patients undergoing septal surgery used the Fairley nasal symptom score, the Nottingham health profile, a general health questionnaire and clinical examination of nasal cavities to assess the outcome. A wide range of baseline severity scores was observed. Almost 40% of patients failed to attend for review. Analysis of the outcomes in the remaining 121 patients revealed significant improvement in (a) nasal obstruction in 74%, (b) facial pain in 72%, and (c) catarrh in 64% of patients. There was a lack of correlation between observed postoperative reduction in the number of nasal septal areas deviated and improvement in nasal obstruction. The Nottingham health profile and general health questionnaire scores remained unchanged in a large majority of patients. Postoperative improvement in nasal obstruction was independent of grade of surgeon or concomitant lateral nasal wall surgery. The principal benefits of septal surgery relate to improvement in nasal symptoms. The generic quality-of-life measures such as the Nottingham health profile and general health questionnaire did not show significant improvement in quality of life. Our results support the use of disease-specific instruments to evaluate the outcome of septal surgery.

Assessment of symptom improvement following nasal septoplasty with or without turbinectomy

“…Most studies have shown that these methods do not correlate with the patient's reported subjective improvement 6,7 . A few studies have shown, however, that septoplasty is generally effective for treating nasal obstruction, and that most patient show improvements in nasal symptoms 1,2,4,[7][8][9][10][11] .…”

Subjective Evaluation Methods in Chronic Rhinitis and Rhinosinusitis: Quality of Life Questionnaires: Review

“…10 Literatürde nazal septal cerrahi geçiren hastalarda yapılan bir çalışmada kullanılmış, ancak tedavi sonrası Fairley nazal semptom skorlarında saptanan anlamlı değişiklikler NHP anketine yansımamıştır. 27 NHP'in Türkçeye adaptasyonu ve psikometrik özel-likleri Küçükdeveci ve ark. tarafından çalışılmıştır.…”

Patients’ evaluation for the surgical management of nasal obstruction

“…Some other studies have been performed to assess the impact of the surgery for nasal blockage on the quality of life of the patient (6,7) .…”

“…There is a total score and three subscales: a general subscale (12 questions), a social support subscale (3 questions) and a physical health subscale (3 questions). It gives a total score (18-90) and profile scores for general benefit (12-60), social support (3-15) and physical health (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Each scale score constructed to range between 0-100.…”