A comparative double blind study of nasal dressing sponge® versus merocel® as nasal pack after nasal surgery

Introduction: Nasal packing is a common procedure used to ensure haemostasis after nasal surgery. Materials and Methods: A prospective, randomized, controlled and double-blinded study was conducted on 80 consecutive subjects to investigate whether using Nasal Dressing Sponge® (NDS) instead of simple Merocel® might improve patients' postoperative experience of nasal packing. Results: During the stay of the tampons no differences were noticed between the two groups as regards the postoperative pain. When it comes to pain during the packing removal, patients complained of worse symptoms in the side packed with Merocel. There was no bleeding after the removal of Merocel, whereas 5,6% patients were subject to some bleeding when NDS was removed. Conclusion: Merocel and NDS gave similar results regarding haemostatic activity. Nasal Dressing Sponge could decrease pain during the removal of the nasal pack, while it could be associated to a bigger incidence of mild bleeding after removing the pack.