Evaluation of Early and Late Term Outcomes of Radiofrequency Surgery in the Treatment of Inferior Turbinate Hypertrophy

Abstract

Murat Salihoglu, Ibrahim Engin Cekin, Enver Cesmeci, Bulent Evren Erkul

Introduction: Inferior turbinate hypertrophy (ITH) plays an important role in the complaint of nasal obstruction. Surgical procedures are preferred to reduce the inferior turbinate if medical treatments fail to achieve satisfactory results. Numerous surgical techniques have been tried for inferior turbinate surgery. Recently, inferior turbinate radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has come forward among these surgical techniques. The aim of this study was to evaluate results of inferior turbinate RFA in patients who did not benefit from medical therapy. Patients and Methods: The study included 32 patients who are suffering from nasal obstruction because of ITH. All the patients did not benefit from medical therapy. Topical and infiltrative anesthesia was performed before the application. Severities of the patients’ complaint of nasal obstruction were subjectively evaluated by using a visual analogue scale (VAS) preoperatively, and postoperatively on six weeks and one year. The effects of inferior turbinate RFA on mucociliary activity were evaluated in the same period by a saccharin test. Results: The mean preoperative VAS score was 6.47. The mean postoperative 6-week and 1-year VAS scores were 4.13 (P<0.001) and 4.47 (P<0.001), respectively. There was a statistically significant decrease in postoperative VAS scores compared to preoperative VAS scores. The average saccharin test results for the right nasal cavity preoperatively, 6 weeks postoperatively, and 1 year postoperatively were 11.03 minutes, 11.75 minutes (P=0.054), and 11.69 minutes (P=0.074), respectively. The average saccharin test results for the left nasal cavity preoperatively, 6 weeks postoperatively, and 1 year postoperatively were 10.91 minutes, 11.22 minutes (P=0.268), and 11.59 minutes (P=0.187), respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between preoperative and postoperative saccharin test results for each nasal cavity. Conclusion: Inferior turbinate RFA can be used alone effectively in the treatment of nasal obstruction caused by ITH. Results of inferior turbinate RFA are satisfactory for at least one year without causing impairment in physiologic mucociliary activity or other adverse effects.