Objective: To determine the efficacy of nasal splints in preventing adhesion formation in patients undergoing
septoplasty for deviated nasal septum (DNS).
Study Design:Quasi experimental study.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at ENT department, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi
from January 2010 to January 2011.
Materials and Methods: Two hundred and sixty patients with DNS requiring septoplasty were included in this
study. They were divided in two groups A and B with each group consisting of 130 patients. In group A splints
were used postoperatively after septoplasty while in group B no splints were used. In group A nasal splints were
removed on 14th postoperative day. All patients in group A and B were followed up regularly in OPD for six
weeks for development of adhesions to determine efficacy of nasal splints in prevention of adhesions.
Results: In group A average age was 29.13 years+10.11SD while it was 27.6 years+ 9.5SD in group B. Male to
female ratio was 1.15:1. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adhesion formation
between two groups with p-value of 0.734.
Conclusion: There is no significant advantage of routinely using intranasal splints in septoplasty patients for
prevention of adhesion formation.
