Comparison of Endoscopic Turbinoplasty Versus Conventional Partial Inferior Turbinectomy in Chronic Hypertrophic Rhinitis

To compare the benefits of endoscopic turbinoplasty and conventional partial inferior turbinectomyin terms of symptomatic relief of the post operative subjective and objective outcomes in patients with chronic hypertrophic rhinitis. A comparative longitudinal study was carried out over a period of 18 months. 60 cases were assigned randomly into two groups—group A (endoscopic turbinoplasty) and group B (conventional partial inferior turbinectomy) and post-operatively were followed up to 6 months to look for postoperative subjective and objective outcomes. Symptomatic improvement in nasal obstruction was found to be consistently better in group A patients at postoperative days 7 and 15, but both groups achieved comparable symptom relief at the third month. A statistically significant difference in SNOT 22 scores were observed between the two groups at all follow-ups. Relatively higher rates of post-operative morbidities were observed in group B at the 7th and 15th postoperative days. Endoscopic turbinoplasty may be better than conventional partial inferior turbinectomy in terms of improvement in nasal obstruction and decreased postoperative morbidity in the immediate postoperative period.