Vol.95 No.10 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 95 No. 10 October 2002
Carbon Dioxide Laser Vaporization of Turbinate
for Allergic Rhinitis
Shun-ichi Imamura and Hideyuki Honda
(Suwa Central Hospital)
Carbon dioxide laser vaporization of turbinate has recently become accepted as a common treatment for allergic rhinitis. Usually, only a single irradiation is applied per outpatient clinic consultation to minimize trauma. However repeated irradiations on separate days are required to achieve an adequate effect. Therefore, we attempted a new method of vaporization and evaluated the outcome. To widely and deeply vaporize the inferior turbinate, irradiation was repeated three times in one session after removing the carbon coating from the previous irradiation under nasal endosopic observation. After the procedure, most patients experienced complete nasal obstruction for two or three days, but there was no intraoperative or postoperative bleeding. All patients had improvement of their chief complaints and were satisfied after a single treatment. Especially, 60％ of the patients were completely released from refractory nasal obstruction.
Most patients were satisfied with the effects and the cost, compared with those treated by the usual methods. This method may be especially accepted by the patients with severe complaints, in particular nasal obstruction, but do not have enough time to make frequent visits to an outpatient clinic over a period of several weeks.
Key words : carbon dioxide laser, turbinate vaporization, allergic rhinitis