The septum is the cartilage wall that divides and separates the nostrils. People who have a deviated septum may have a hole in the septum, or other malformations that can block the nasal passageways and can cause varying degrees of difficulty with breathing. Traditional surgery to solve these problems uses a scalpel to cut away flaps inside the nose and reshape the cartilage manually. Stitches are needed to close the surgical wounds. The procedure is costly and the patient may need time off from work to recover. The new procedure uses a laser to heat the malformations until they are soft enough to be pressed or formed so that they aren't blocking the nasal passageways.
Yuri Ovchinnikov, M.D., of Moscow State University, Russia, and colleagues used the laser procedure on 110 patients between 11 years old and 66 years old. Patients were followed up for an average of 18 months.
The laser outpatient procedure lasted 6 to 8 minutes. The researchers found that 84 (76 percent) patients had an improvement in their airways, and with symptoms associated with nasal blockages. The authors write, "After 7 to 10 days, the septal cartilage in all patients tended to recover some of the initial deformity (shape-memory effect). Two to 3 weeks later, the cartilage started to restraighten. The septum reached a stable shape after 3 to 4 weeks. This shape change remained stable throughout the observation period (2 to 3 years)."
In 27 (24 percent) of the patients, abnormalities treated with the laser procedure
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Contact: Emil Sobol
sobol@laser.ru
JAMA and Archives Journals
14-Aug-2002