Comparative Study of Surgical Outcome in Endoscopic-Assisted Versus Conventional Septoplasty Using Nasal Surgical Questionnaire (NSQ): A Randomized Control Trial

Deviated nasal septum (DNS) causes nasal obstruction, secretions, decreased sense of smell, bleeding, headache and snoring. This study aims to compare endoscopic-assisted septoplasty versus conventional septoplasty in terms of surgical outcome and intra- and post-operative complications. A prospective study was done on 50 patients aged between 18 and 41 years of which, 41 (82%) cases were males and 9 (18%) were females who had DNS based on clinical examination and diagnostic nasal endoscopy. Patients were randomized by simple randomization into two groups. Functional outcome was assessed using nasal surgical questionnaire (NSQ) prior to and after surgery for 3 months post-operatively and complications associated with the surgery were compared between two groups. In this study, most of the patients had anterior dislocations, present in 37 cases (74%). Improvement in pre- to post-operative visual analogue scale (VAS) for nasal obstruction was significantly better in endoscopic-assisted than conventional septoplasty (p < 0.001*). Pre-and post-operative differences in 4-point likert scale for other nasal symptoms like decreased sense of smell, snoring, secretions, headache and crusting were better in endoscopic-assisted septoplasty (p < 0.001*). Complications in endoscopic-assisted septoplasty were less common compared to conventional septoplasty (p = 0.05). In endoscopic-assisted septoplasty patients, pre-to post-operative NSQ (Nasal Surgical Questionnaire) VAS improvement for nasal obstruction, likert scale change from pre-to post-op were better and complications were lesser compared to conventional septoplasty. This suggests endoscopic-assisted septoplasty has better surgical outcomes and fewer complications and posterior deviations, spurs and inferior deviations can be corrected with ease and fewer complications.