Radiofrequency Turbinate Ablation

Correspondence Physician’s Regional Medical Center, 6101 Pine Ridge Road, Naples, FL 34109, USA. Email: DavidGreeneMD@ comcast.net Tel: 239-348-4081. Hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates is an important cause of nasal obstruction. It is caused by multiple factors including both soft tissue and bony factors, including hypervascular engorgement, inflammation, and compensatory turbinate hypertrophy on the side less blocked by cartilaginous or bony deformities. Medical treatment for obstruction, while critical and first-line in nature, often fails when anatomical turbinate obstruction exists. Thus, turbinate reduction is critical to management of the obstructed nose. Traditionally, turbinate excision comprised the mainstay of treatment. However, our increasing understanding of the role of turbinates in nasal obstruction, along with the morbidity of excisional techniques, most notable in the prevalence of ‘empty nose syndrome’, led to more conservative approaches to the turbinates. Unlike epithelium-ablating techniques, RFTA has been shown to preserve mucociliary clearance. We have found Radiofrequency Turbinate Ablation (RFTA) to be an extremely valuable instrument in management of the obstructive turbinate, both as an isolated procedure, and in conjunction with septoplasty, sinus surgery, and as an adjunct to limited excisional turbinate procedures. Additionally, RFTA can be done easily in the office / clinic setting, with re-usable instrumentation, thus providing a patient-friendly, cost effective alternative to OR surgery in selected cases. We recommend RFTA as an essential tool in the rhinologic armamentarium.