EFFICIENCY AND ACCEPTANCE OF NASAL IRRIGA TION AFTER ENDONASAL SINUS SURGERY

Background: Cleaning of the nose with saline solution after endonasal sinus surgery is very often used for postoperative treatment. But the efficiency and acceptance of this method has not been examined thoroug hly until now. Methods: Performance, effectiveness and acceptance of t he postoperative treatment was evaluated in a questionnaire. One hundr ed thirty-four of 180 patients answered. Results: One hundred twenty-o ne patients (66.1%) cleaned their nose with Ems brine; 28.1% of the pa tients used saline solution. The nasal douche was the cleaning device used by 39.7% of the patients, whereas 53.7% sniffed the solution from their hand. Ninety-five percent found that this kind of treatment was easy to do; 84.7% found it equally pleasant. There was no difference between using Ems brine or NaCl solution nor between using the nasal d ouche or sniffing out of the hand. Fifty-one point four percent of the patients with an follow-up of 27 to 36 months rinsed their nose up to now; 55.9% resumed nasal irrigation after an interval. Conclusions: R insing of the nose after endonasal sinus surgery is judged positively by most of our patients and is integrated well in the daily routine. A lthough it is most common to sniff saline solution out of the hand, ex isting researchs recommends usage of warm Ems brine in combination wit h the nasal douche.