Publication:

Correlation between subjective and objective outcomes of septoplasty in septal deviation

Background Septal deviation is one of the leading causes of chronic nasal obstruction. Septoplasty is the procedure of choice for treating these patients. Depending on the patient’s perception and satisfaction the benefits of the surgery vary.

Methods A prospective study was conducted at command hospital air force Bangalore in the department of ENT for a period of 2 years from 2018 to 2020 in 60 patients who underwent septoplasty. Preoperative and postoperative data were documented and analysed to get the results.

Results On postoperative objective evaluation by diagnostic nasal endoscopy 47% of patient’s anatomical deviation was completely corrected while it was partially corrected in 53% of patients overall. Post-op subjective evaluation by evaluating mean modified nose obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) score also depicted a significant improvement (p<0.5). There was also a significant positive correlation between the subjective and objective outcomes of septoplasty in our study. On correlating the postoperative subjective and objective outcome individually in all the types of septal deviation, there was an improvement in mean modified NOSE score in all types of patients.

Conclusions There was improvement in both subjective and objective outcomes postoperatively. Study concluded that modified NOSE scale addresses wider range of symptomatology and is a good tool for subjective assessment of septoplasty. Improvement in anatomical septal deviation was noted by diagnostic nasal endoscopy postoperatively in all types of septal deviation of patients in our study.