Faiz-ul Hassan Nawaz, Arfat Jawaid, Sheraz Bashir.
Comparison of nasal patency following submucosal diathermy of inferior turbinate versus inferior turbinectomy.
Pak Armed Forces Med J Jan ;64(4):551-4.

Objective: To compare the nasal patency following sub mucosal diathermy (SMD) of inferior turbinate and inferior turbinectomy (IT). Study Design: Randomized controlled trial. Place and Duration of Study: Department of ENT Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi. Study was completed in one year from 15th September 2009 to 15th September 2010. Subjects: Total 160 patients with symptomatic inferior turbinate hypertrophy were included in the study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups of 80 each using random numbers table. Group A underwent submucosal diathermy (SMD) of inferior turbinate where as Group B underwent inferior turbinectomy (IT). Postoperative nasal patency was judged after 03 weeks by visual analog scale (VAS). Results: Both the groups are comparable with respect to age and gender. Post-operative nasal patency is significantly better in group B as compared to group A. Conclusion: IT is a more effective method to improve nasal patency as compared to SMD in case of inferior turbinate hypertrophy.

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