Inferior turbinate reduction; coblation versus microdebrider - a prospective, randomised study

Objectives: We prospectively evaluated and compared the safety, subjective and objective efficacy of the coblation and microdebrider for inferior turbinate reduction. Methods: We designed a prospective randomized trial recruiting 70 patients with symptomatic enlarged inferior turbinates. Forty had coblation and 30 had microdebrider. Objectively, we scored each inferior turbinate size from 1 to 3 pre- and post-operatively. Subjectively, patients completed a visual analogue scale (VAS) evaluating their nasal symptoms, before and after surgery. Results: Both techniques resulted in subjective significant improvement in the VAS for nasal obstruction, and other nasal symptoms. Comparing both groups, coblation showed significantly less pain than the microdebrider. Postoperative bleeding and mucosal tears were less frequent with coblation than with microdebrider but this was nonsignificant. Patient satisfaction significantly improved after both techniques. Conclusion: The submucous coblation is as effective as microdebrider for inferior turbinate reduction. It is easily performed with significantly less postoperative pain than the microdebrider. Both techniques produce significant reduction of the size of the turbinates and associated with a satisfactory improvement of the nasal obstruction, nasal secretion, crust formation, itching, sneezing and dryness. The side effects are minimal with both procedures with significant patient satisfaction postoperatively.