Relationship between nasal septal deviation type and changes in severity of nasal obstruction in post-septoplasty patients

Background: Nasal septal deviation is the most anatomical abnormality that causes nasal obstruction and affects the patient’s life expectancy. Complaints of nasal obstruction are subjective and vary greatly in patients with nasal septal deviation. Septoplasty is a definitive therapy for correcting nasal septal deviation and can reduce complaints of nasal obstruction as assessed by the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation questionnaire. Objective: To determine the relationship between the type of nasal septal deviation and changes in the severity of nasal obstruction in post-septoplasty patients. Material and methods: This study is observational analytic with a longitudinal prospective design. The type of nasal septal deviation based on the Mladina classification is assessed using nasoendoscopy. The Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation questionnaire was completed 1 day before and 4 weeks after septoplasty with/without turbinoplasty. The Evaluation score comparison test before and after septoplasty used the Wilcoxon test. Statistical tests between types of nasal septal deviation used the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The sample consisted of 13 patients. Significant change in the severity of nasal obstruction only found in type 7 (p<0.05). Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation score before p=0.918 and after septoplasty p=0.393. This shows that there is no significant difference between the type of nasal septal deviation and the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation score. The difference in Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation scores before and after septoplasty was found to be p=0.810, so there was no relationship between the type of nasal septal deviation and changes in the severity of nasal obstruction. Conclusion: There is no relationship between nasal septal deviation type and changes in the severity of nasal obstruction in post-septoplasty patients. Changes in the severity of nasal obstruction were only found in type 7.