ABSTRACT
To investigate the incidence of recurrence in nasal polypi and assess the efficacy of various modalities of the treatment currently available to prevent the recurrence. This study was carried out in the ENT and Head and Neck Surgery Department, B.V. Hospital Bahawalpur from January 2006 to December 2007. A total of 160 cases were included in the study. Most of the cases were between the ages 11-30 years. The youngest patient was of 5 years age while the eldest was of 70 years. Mean age was 24 years. The disease is most prominent in males. Out of 160, male patients were 98 and female were 62. Male to female ratio is 1.6:1. Nasal polypi are mostly bilateral [75%] while 25% were unilateral. 14% were right sided and 11% were left sided. About 60% of the patients were having symptoms for less than one year, 26% presented in 1-3 years period and only 16% presented after 3.years. Out of 160 cases, 56 [35%] patients were recurrent i.e. they had undergone already operative procedures, mostly nasal polypectomy. Nasal polypectomy was performed in 67.5% of the cases and ethmoidectomy in 32.5%. Ethoidectomy is better than nasal polypectomy and has lesser recurrence rate but a great care must be observed as the ethmoid is very close to the orbit and brain. External erthmoidectomy is the best of all surgical procedure to prevent the recurrence. Use of topical steroids after nasal polypectomy also prevents the patient from recurrence of nasal polypi