THE INFLUENCE OF LIDOCAIN INFILTRATION ON PAIN DURING REMOWAL OF NASAL PACKING AFTER SEPTOPLASTY

Ankara Numune Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi , 1. KBB Kliniği, Ankara, Türkiye The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the rehydration of nasal package with 4% lidocaine to the pain during removal of these packages. One hundred patients who underwent septoplasty are included in this prospective, randomized and placebo controlled study. Same type of merocel package is applied to all patients. Before removing, one of the packages was rehydrated with 5 ml of % 4 lidocaine and the other one with % 0,9 NaCl. While the first 50 patients' (group 1) nasal packages were removed 10 minutes after rehydratation, the second 50 patients' (group 2) packages were removed 15 minutes after rehydratation. All patients were requested to mark their pain levels during removal on a visual analog scale. The data obtained from the patients are compared statistically. Although the decrease in the pain level was not statistically significant in the first group (p= 0.412), it was statistically significant in the second group (p= 0.024). Nasal package rehydratation with %4 lidocain 15 minutes before removal is a simple, safe and a cheap process which provides important contribution to patients comfort during removal of nasal package after septoplasty. Keywords : Septoplasty, Lidocaine, Nasal package, Visual analog scale, Pain