Efficacy and Safety of Daflon® in the Treatment of Idiopathic Epistaxis

Abstract

Background Epistaxis is a very common ENT emergency with the idiopathic variety being the commonest type. Daflon® is a mixture of flavonoids with beneficial vascular effects that may help in the treatment of epistaxis. Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of Daflon® in the treatment of idiopathic epistaxis. Methods This is an open-label randomized clinical trial conducted on patients with idiopathic epistaxis comparing 1 group receiving Daflon® for 1 month and a second group receiving Daflon® for 3 months with a control group receiving nothing. The groups were evaluated regarding the number of visits to an emergency room and the number of patients needing cautery as indicators for the control of epistaxis. Also, the severity of epistaxis was assessed using epistaxis severity score (ESS) before and after treatment. We followed the patients for 1 year to determine the long-term effect of both drug protocols. Results The study included 450 patients distributed equally among the 3 study groups. The administration of Daflon® whether for 1 month or 3 months resulted in a significant improvement in our indicators for control of epistaxis including the number of patients visiting an emergency room and those needing cauterization after the failure of light nasal packing when compared with control group. Also, the severity of epistaxis as defined by the ESS was significantly less at the end of each treatment period and at 1-year follow-up when compared with the pretreatment severity. However, the use of Daflon® for 3 months was associated with a significantly more epistaxis control at 1-year follow-up when compared with the 1-month administration. Conclusion Daflon® is a very effective and safe method for controlling idiopathic epistaxis. However, the daily use of Daflon® for 3 months has a more significant long-term beneficial effect than 1 month of use.