Efficacy and safety of endoscopic septoplasty for treating nasal septal deviations compared with conventional septoplasty: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: We assessed the effects and safety of endoscopic septoplasty in patients with nasal septal deviations (NSD), compared with those of conventional septoplasty. Design and setting: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Participants: Patients who have undergone various endoscopic septoplasty procedure, such as hemitransfixion incision, incision at the deviated site and Killian incision, and conventional septoplasty. Main outcome measures: Six databases were searched up to April 2022. We analysed studies comparing improvements in NSD-related symptoms and post-operative complications between endoscopic septoplasty and control (conventional septoplasty) groups.

Results: A total of 38 articles with 2733 individuals were included. There were no significant differences in operative time (-0.4354, 95% confidence interval [CI: -1.1670; 0.2962]) or intra-operative bleeding (-1.3011 [-2.8003; 0.1981]) between the two groups. In the endoscopic septoplasty group, the change in nasal obstruction symptom evaluation score (9.5143 [5.4613; 13.5674] was statistically higher and the incidence of mucosal tearing (0.2766 [0.1889; 0.4049]) was lower. The incidences of full relief from symptoms such as headache (2.1996 [1.6896; 2.8634]), hyposmia (4.4468 [2.6806; 7.3767]), nasal obstruction (5.9871 [4.3292; 8.2800]), post-nasal drip (4.7241 [3.4086; 6.5472]) and snoring (2.9980 [1.2622; 7.1211]) were significantly higher in the endoscopic septoplasty group. In terms of post-operative endoscopic findings, epistaxis (0.3043 [0.1969; 0.4703]), hematoma (0.2022 [0.0785; 0.5213]), nasal obstruction 0.3373 [0.1334; 0.8527]), residual posterior septal deviation (0.1562 [0.0921; 0.2650]), septal perforation (0.2286 [0.1069; 0.4889]), residual spur (0.1294 [0.0602; 0.2780]) and synechia (0.2537 [0.1849; 0.3483]) were significantly less common in the endoscopic septoplasty group.

Conclusion: Endoscopic septoplasty better relieved NSD-related symptoms and reduced surgery-related complications compared to conventional septoplasty.