ENDOSCOPIC SURGICAL TREATMENT OF HEAD AND FACIAL PAIN WITH AN ORIGIN OF MUCOSAL CONTACT
Kırıkkale Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, KBB, Kırıkkale, Türkiye Background and Objective: Head and facial pain of nasal origin has been a frequent subject of debate in recent years. The condition has been referred to as middle turbinate syndrome. This study aimed to evaluate the pain associated with mucosal contact between middle turbinate and nasal septum or lateral nasal wall.Patients and Method: The study involved 23 patients with primary complaints of headache. The patients were evaluated as not having sinus disorders and their mucosal contact points were identified through endoscopic and computed tomography (CT) studies. While 14 out of 23 patients consented to surgical therapy, 9 patients preferred medical therapy. Those consenting to surgical therapy (Group 1) comprised the study group and those who preferred medical therapy comprised the control group (Group 2). Before and after medical or surgical therapy, head and facial pain of the patients were evaluated based on visual analog scale (VAS) of 10 units.
Results: The change in VAS values relative to time was statistically significant for Group 1, whereas it was not significant for group 2 (Friedman test; p<0.001 for the study group; p=0.06 for the control group). Furthermore, the intergroup comparison of the efficiency of the treatment method used revealed that the patients who received surgical therapy had significantly benefited from the method (Mann Whitney U test, p<0.05).
Conclusion: Surgical therapy is an efficient and reliable approach to head and facial pain associated with mucosal contact. Moreover, endoscopy should be the choice of preference since it facilitates the surgical intervention.
Keywords : Head and facial pain, mucosal contact points, endoscopic surgery.