A 5-year audit of rhinology procedures carried out in a district general hospital

INTRODUCTION Although there has been many studies quoting ENT and rhinology complications, there have been none looking at the complication rates of one department with a single specialist rhinologist over a 5-year period. PATIENTS AND METHODS Over a 5-year period between 1998 and 2002, the number of operative procedures undertaken in the ENT department in a busy district general hospital was collected in a prospective manner. RESULTS A total of 10,768 ENT procedures were undertaken in the department which comprised four consultants and associated junior staff (SpRs/SASs/SHOs); 2507 of these procedures were rhinology cases. There were 39 recorded complications following nasal surgery, giving an overall rhinology complication rate of 1.56%. This included 12 postoperative nose bleeds (0.48%), 5 cases of infection following septal surgery (0.56%), 7 cases of septal perforation (0.75%) and various minor functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) complications (2.17%). These figures are either below or within the quoted literature rates. There were no major complications or deaths recorded following nasal surgery. CONCLUSIONS These results compare favourably with those of other studies.