Outcome of treatment for severe epistaxis: nasal packing and endoscopic sphenopalatine artery ligation

Abstract

Background: Severe epistaxis is a frequent emergency condition encountered by otolaryngologists and is often treated with nasal packing. In the event of failure surgical treatment is considered. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Nasal Packing (NP) and Endoscopic Sphenopalatine Artery Ligation (ESPAL) as treatment of severe epistaxis in terms of failures and recurrences including risk factors. Methodology: Retrospective descriptive study of patients with epistaxis treated with NP, admitted to an ENT department from 2011-2017. If initial treatment with NP failed, patients were considered for ESPAL. Results: An analysis of 511 patients was performed. All patients were treated with NP at the time of admission, and 14% of pa- tients were treated with ESPAL due to failure of NP. The majority of patients was only admitted once. Twelve percent were readmit- ted within 30 days, 7% were readmitted >30 days later. Treatment failure after ESPAL was 7.9%. No significant difference in the risk of readmission was found between patients treated with NP alone and patients treated with ESPAL. Conclusion: The majority of epistaxis patients were effectively treated with NP alone. We found good effect of ESPAL although no significant differences in risk of readmission NP vs. ESPAL were identified.