Investigation of the congestion and decongestion responses and histological changes of the inferior concha after radiofrequency

Nasal congestion due to inferior conchal hypertropy is one of the the most encountered complaint in ear nose throat practise. There are medical and surgical treatment options. Surgical treatment is indicated if medical treatment is not effective. Surgical options include; partial/total turbinate resection, lateralization, laser surgery, electrocautery, cryotherapy, submucosal resection, turbinoplasty, submucosal diathermy, radiofrequency thermal ablation, argon plasma coagulation. Radiofrequency Thermal Ablation (RFTA) has become preffered treatment of choice because this method is effective, easy to perform, minimally invasive and has rare side effects. Aim of this study is; to compare pre-congestion, post-congestion and post-decongestion MCA2 levels before and after RFTA, which are measured with acoustic rhinometry, and with using these results, to evalute correlation between untreated patients and treated patients? venous sinusoidal calibrate changes histologically. 30 patients with bilateral inferior conchal hypertrophy who are proposed to have RFTA and seven patients who are proposed to have inferior turbinate resection due to choncal hypertrophy were included in the study. All of the patients who are treated with RFTA, filled Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and acoustic rhinometric measurements of these patients were done before RFTA and after RFTA at the 1st and 3rd months. In acoustic measurement, pre-congestion, post-congestion and post-decongestion MCA2 and total nasal volumes (V) were recorded. Congestion was provided by histamin spray applied in 2 mg/ml and 8 mg/ml doses, decongestion was provided by % 0,1 adrenalin soaked cotton placed into both nasal passages. Reduced ratios in MCA2 and V level changes before and after RFTA were statistically significant. There was no statistical significance in the level of changes between the 1st and 3rd months after RFTA. There was a statistically significant difference in the caliber of the venous sinusoidals between the untreated and treated patients with RFTA. All these results show that RFTA is a effective method in conchal reduction. In addition, we thought that, with the preoperative acoustic measurement of MCA2, congestion and decongestion capacity can be observed and this can predict which patients will have benefit from RFTA.