Early clinical outcomes of ınferior turbinate radiofrequency and lateralization combined with septoplasty

INTRODUCTION: Mechanical obstruction is the most common form of nasal obstruction. Among the types of mechanical obstructions, septum deviation and inferior turbinate hypertrophy are the most prevalent. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the early clinical outcomes of inferior turbinate radiofrequency and inferior turbinate lateralization combined with septoplasty in the treatment of nasal obstruction symptoms. METHODS: The research retrospectively evaluated data from 33 patients (24 male, nine female) undergoing septoplasty and inferior turbinate radiofrequency (RF group) and 32 patients (24 male, eight female) treated with septoplasty and inferior turbinate lateralization (LAT group), who were admitted, with complaints of nasal obstruction, to the University of Health Sciences, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, between January 1, 2017 and January 1, 2018. The patients’ preoperative and 6-month postoperative symptoms were evaluated via the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation, the NOSE scale. RESULTS: The mean preoperative NOSE scores were 10.3 ± 4.2 in the RF group and 10.9 ± 4.9 in the LAT group, and the mean six-month postoperative scores were 1.09 ± 1.3 in the RF group and 1.2 ± 1.3 in the LAT group. There was no significant difference in NOSE scores between the two groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The data obtained in this study show that both methods result in similar outcomes in terms of relieving nasal obstruction symptoms in patients requiring inferior turbinate intervention. Therefore, the researchers believe that, in each case, the intervention method should be selected at the discretion of the patient and surgeon(s).