Safety of (rhino)septoplasty without nasal packing in routine ENT practice.

Purpose: This retrospective study assesses the risks and benefits linked to the non-use of nasal packing after a (rhino)septoplasty, compared with post-operative care with anterior nasal packing such as Merocel®.

Methods: Complication rates observed during the first week after surgery were compared between groups with and without use of classic nasal packing over a large sample of 534 patients, who had undergone either a closed or open procedure, with bilateral turbinoplasty, and with or without osteotomies. Complications listed include epistaxis, haematoma, impetiginization, septal perforation, hyperalgesia, and dyspnoea.

Prevalence of lymph nodes in the apex of level V: a plea against the necessity to dissect the apex of level V in mucosal head and neck cancer.

Background: We assessed the prevalence of histologically proven normal or invaded lymph nodes in the apex of level V.

Methods: Seventy neck dissections were performed in 41 patients with mucosal head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Fifty-one neck dissections were performed in 30 previously untreated patients (group 1); 19 neck dissections were carried out in 11 patients previously irradiated (group 2).