ABSTRACT
Over the past 60 years, many surgical techniques have been developed for the repair of nasoseptal perforations. This study describes a safe and practical technique involving the 5-layer repair of symptomatic nasoseptal perforations without mucosal flaps. The present study involved 23 patients (17 men and 6 women) who had symptomatic nasoseptal perforations in the Otorhinolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery Department of Haseki Research and Training Hospital. Patients were treated using the mucosal regeneration technique. Follow-up examinations were performed at 3 and 6 months postoperatively. The surgery was considered successful if total closure was achieved. Nasal mucosal physiology was also assessed preoperatively and at 3 and 6 months postoperatively by measuring the nasal mucociliary clearance time by means of the saccharin test. The most common etiological factor was former nasal surgery (56.5%), followed by nasal trauma (26%). In 4 patients (17.5%), the perforations were idiopathic. The average preoperative perforation size was 1.74 ± 0.87 cm. Total closure of the perforation was achieved in 21 patients (91.3%), and only 2 patients had subtotal healing. The mean preoperative mucociliary clearance time was 19.3 ± 4.15 minutes, which significantly improved to 12.4 ± 3.53 minutes and 10.1 ± 3.21 minutes at 3 and 6 postoperative months, respectively. Mucosal regeneration technique with interpositional grafts can be used to safely and reliably repair medium-to-large nasoseptal perforations.
