Effects of septoplasty on pulmonary function tests in patients with nasal septal deviation.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of septoplasty on pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) in patients who had no previous pulmonary diseases.

DESIGN: Prospective, controlled clinical trial.

PATIENTS: Fourteen patients with nasal septal deviation (NSD) and 20 controls were enrolled in the study.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: All patients were evaluated with anterior rhinoscopy, nasal endoscopy, acoustic rhinometry (AR), visual analogue scale (VAS), PFTs, and bronchoprovocation test (BPT) on the day before surgery and 8 to 12 weeks after surgery.

RESULTS: The postoperative values of forced expiratory volume in 1 second, forced vital capacity, and peak expiratory flow percentages were higher than preoperative ones, and these results were statistically significant (p = .007, p = .04, and p = .007, respectively). Nine patients had preoperative BHR, and three of them had negative BPT postoperatively. When compared with the preoperative values, there was a borderline decrease in the rate of BHR in six patients. There were significant improvements in the symptoms of left and right nasal congestion, headache, postnasal drip, and olfactory function after surgery. We found important improvement in the values of AR at right minimal cross-sectional area 1 (p = .02), left distance 1 (p = .04), and left distance 2 (p = .04) postoperatively.

CONCLUSION: An improvement in both nasal symptoms and PFT values was seen after surgical treatment for NSD. We concluded that septoplasty may be considered as having favourable effects on BHR.