Isotonic Nasal Lavage in Recovery after Sinus Surgery: A Comparison of Three Different Applications

Abstract

Nasal mucosal integrity, nasal passage patency and olfactory function are taken intoaccount in post-fess recovery. One of the routinely used methods during this period isnasal lavage. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of isotonic irrigation methods used after endoscopic sinus surgery on the recovery process. Our study was designed as a non-randomized prospective study. A total of 96 patients with chronic sinusitis diagnoses who underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgerywere included. Patients were divided into three groups according to the type of nasalirrigation applied in the postoperative period, Group 1: high-volume nasal irrigation, Group 2: high-pressure nasal irrigation, Group 3: high-volume and steroid nasalirrigation. Patients underwent endoscopic examination, eustachian function test, measurement of nasal inspiratuar flow, smell test and sino-nasal outcome – 22 questionnaire. In our study, it was observed that Group 1 was significantly better than Group 2 endoscopically at the 2nd postoperative week, but there was no difference between thegroups at the 4th and 12th weeks. Only in the Sino-nasal Outcome test -22 results, wefound that Group 2 was significantly lower than the other groups at the 12th week. There was no significant difference between the groups for other parameters. In our study, we recommend high-pressure irrigation in the recovery process afterendoscopic sinus surgery due to the SNOT-22 questionnaire results. It was determinedthat there was no significant difference between the groups regarding otherparameters.