DOI: 10.36347/sasjs

Pages: 30-32

Epistaxis is one of the most common otorhinolaryngological emergencies. Each patient with epistaxis must be clinically assessed and managed on individual merits. But due to the emergency nature of the condition and the anxiety of the patients and the attenders, the immediate control of bleeding usually becomes the first objective. 200 patients of epistaxis were subjected to this study at Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences. 100 patients in group A were treated by anterior nasal packing where as 100 from group B were treated by endoscopic electric cauterisation. All the 200 patients were followed up at the end of 1st week, 2nd week, 4th week and 2nd months. During the follow-up the patients were assessed for the recurrence of epistaxis, nasal crusting and presence of synechiae in the nasal cavity. In this study, the patients who underwent endoscopic cautery had much better compliance than the nasal packing group. Also there was less recurrence of bleeding and less incidence of crusting and synechiae in the cautery group. Endoscopic cauterisation of the bleeding point is a simple and effective means of controlling epistaxis even in an emergency setting.