EFFECT OF NASAL PACKS ON PATIENTS' ANXIETY AND PAIN INTENSITY FOLLOWING SEPTOPLASTY

Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty-four patients who underwent septoplasty were enrolled in the study. All patients were evaluated by otorhinolaryngological examination and randomly allocated into three groups as group A (merocel group), group B (silicone splint group), and group C (merocel in a glove finger group) according to usage of nasal packing type after surgery. All patients completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory before septoplasty, right after the removal of nasal packing and after 3 hours of removal. The pain intensity was graded by patients according to visual analog scale at different periods of time.

Results: Anxiety score of silicone splint group right after removal of nasal packing reached statistically significantly lower levels than other groups (p <0,05). Furthermore the difference in anxiety scores between nasal packing removal after 3 hours and other time zones reached statistical significance for all groups (p <0,05). The pain scores right after removal of nasal packing and after 3 hours of removal were highest for merocel group.

Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that anxiety levels of patients were high in the preoperative period and decreased after the operation, especially after removal of nasal packing. Additionally another important contribution of this study is that using silicone nasal septal splint after septoplasty may reduce anxiety scores of patients which may also lead to less postoperative pain. Keywords : Septoplasty, nasal packing, Beck Anxiety Inventory, intranasal splint, merocel, merocel in a glove finger, anxiety, pain intensity