assessment of septoplasty effectiveness using acoustic rhinometry and rhinomanometry

introduction: septal deviation is the chief cause of chronic nasal obstruction. in order to treat such cases, nasal septoplasty surgery is usually performed based on patient complaints and a surgeon&apos;s examination, both of which are subjective. this study aims at using the objective parameters of acoustic rhinometry and rhinomanometry to evaluate the effectiveness of septoplasty surgery.   materials and methods: a prospective study was performed in 30 candidate patients for septoplasty surgery. acoustic rhinometry and rhinomanometry tests were performed on all patients both before and 3 months after the operation. the symptom recovery rate was recorded according to the patient&apos;s statements and anterior rhinoscopic examinations 3 months after surgery. data were analyzed using a t-test and chi-square tests in a spss package.   results: a total of 26 of 30 patients returned for a post–procedure follow-up examination after 3 months. patients were aged from 18 to 32 years (average, 25 years). in total 69.2% (18 patients) were satisfied with the results of the procedure. in addition, rhinomanometry resulted in a decrease in general nasal resistance if patients used decongestants (p=0.03). however, the decrease was not significant before the use of decongestants (p=0.12). furthermore, according to the results from acoustic rhinomanometry, there was an increase in the nasal cross-sectional area on both the narrow and wide sides after the operation (p<0.05), although this increase was not so notable in the narrower side after using decongestants. there was, however, no significant relationship between the results from the objective tests and the patient&apos;s symptoms or clinical examinations (p>0.05).   conclusion:  the findings of this study show that although the objective tests confirm an improvement in general nasal resistance and an increase in the nasal cross-sectional area after surgery, no unambiguous relationship between the patient&apos;s symptoms and the clinical examinations is observed. therefore, such objective tests do not prove to be sufficient diagnostic criteria for the effectiveness of septoplasty.