Discussion
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a new challenge, with a prolonged
and progressive pressure on waiting times, cancellations of elective
procedures requiring restructuring of operating patterns. We showed that
waiting time for coblation turbinoplasty in an outpatient setting was 2
weeks and patients for GA turbinoplasty had to wait over 4 months.
Moreover, performing turbinoplasty in outpatient settings, enables
theatre utilization for complex cases that cannot be done under LA.
Our study adds reliability to previous findings that coblation
turbinoplasty in LA can be performed efficiently and
safely(3). We did not observe a difference
in impact on quality of life, pain scores or prevalence of
complications. In the previous study, authors did not include GA as a
control group, therefore this is the first control study to directly
compare efficiency variables of turbinoplasty in LA vs GA.
Procedure in LA was as efficient in improvement of NOSE scores as GA
technique. This is important finding since the turbinoplasty is mostly
performed under GA in the UK and one of the reasons might be a fear that
the procedure under LA may be less efficient. At the same time, pain
scores did not differ between techniques. This agrees with findings of
other studies (1,
7-9).