Comparison of rapid rhino and merocel nasal packs in endonasal septal surgery.

OBJECTIVE

Our study compared Rapid Rhino (RR; Applied Therapeutic Ltd, Leicestershire, UK) and Merocel (Medtronic Xomed, Jacksonville, FL) nasal packing materials in endonasal septoplasty surgery in terms of postoperative patient comfort and reactionary bleeding.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Fifty-one patients underwent endonasal septoplasty. One nasal cavity was packed with Merocel packs and the RR pack was used for the other side. The pain and nasal fullness levels on each side were studied at 1 and 6 hours postoperatively. Pain level was also studied during the removal of the nasal packs on the second day. These levels were scored on the basis of a visual analogue scale (VAS) between 0 and 10. Reactionary bleeding after nasal pack removal was also recorded. The Wilcoxon test was used for statistical analysis of the VAS scores, and the McNemar test was used for comparison of bleeding levels after pack removal. A p value<.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

RESULTS

Minimal bleeding was noted in 15 patients following Merocel pack removal; however, no bleeding was seen following RR pack removal. Comparison of the VAS scores of pain and nasal fullness of each nasal pack at 1 and 6 hours postoperatively showed a statistically significant difference (p<.05). Similarly, comparison of the pain level for pack removal and bleeding after removal on the second postoperative day demonstrated a statistically significant difference (p<.05 and p=.001, respectively).

CONCLUSION

RR is more tolerable by patients than Merocel after septoplasty surgery. RR also has some advantages, namely, easy pack removal and less reactionary bleeding.