Abstract
Today, nasal breathing problems are a common complaint. The aim of this study was to compare quality of life and symptoms in 45 patients with deviated nasal septum before and after septoplasty with a control group of 20 patients without impaired nasal breathing.
Methods: All patients included in the study were tested for Sino-Nasal-Outcome-Test-20 (SNOT-20) before surgery and 3 months after surgery. The study data obtained were compared with the results of a questionnaire of 20 healthy patients, without complaints of impaired nasal breathing.
Results: The mean SNOT-20 questionnaire score of patients after septoplasty improved from 1.92±0.4 before surgery to 1.09±0.4 after surgery (p<0.000). After septoplasty, 61.2% of patients showed an improvement in nasal breathing in the postoperative period to the level of the control group. In addition, from our study, we can conclude that septoplasty can eliminate symptoms such as: headache, difficulty in nasal breathing, cough, a feeling of mucus flowing down the back of the pharynx, which in turn leads to a significant improvement in the quality of life of patients.
Conclusion: Analysing the data of our study, it can be concluded that septoplasty leads to improved nasal breathing, which in turn leads to a significant improvement in the quality of life of patients. A successful result from the surgical intervention is noted by 61.2% of patients.
Key words: curvature of the nasal partition, septoplasty, nasal cavity, SNOT-20.