ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of Nasopore(R) as a nasal packing material on the surgical success rate and prevalence of postoperative complications after endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR). METHODS: The present study included a total of 558 patients (699 eyes) with primary acquired nasolacrimal duct obstruction who underwent endonasal DCR; 227 eyes were packed with Nasopore(R) and 472 eyes were packed with Merocel(R). The surgical success rate and postoperative complications such as synechiae, granulation, wound healing (osteal mucosal epithelium epithelialization), postoperative bleeding, infection, and revision rate were compared between the packing materials. RESULTS: The surgical success rate of the Nasopore(R) group (99.1%, 98.6%) showed significantly better results than the Merocel(R) group (97.2%, 95.1%) at postoperative 1 and 3 months (p = 0.04, 0.03 Pearson chi-square test), whereas there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in postoperative surgical success rate at 1 week and 6 months. In comparison of postoperative complications, the Nasopore(R) group (0%) showed a lower incidence of delayed wound healing (delayed epithelialization of osteal mucosal epithelium) than the Merocel(R) group (2.3%; p = 0.013), whereas there was no difference in granulation, synechiae, postoperative bleeding, infection and revision rate (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The Nasopore(R) group showed a lower proportion of delayed wound healing and improvement of the surgical success rate at an early postoperative period after endonasal DCR compared to non-absorbable nasal packing material.