PRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA

Vol. 97  No. 1  January　2004

Effect of CO₂ Laser Vaporization for Nasal Allergy
-A Questionnaire Survey of Long-term Effect-

Masahiro Kikuchi and Yosaku Shiomi
(Kobe City General Hospital)

Masako Nakai
(Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki Hospital)

Takeshi Morita
(Kyoto University)

Hiromi Nagata
(Kyoto Teishin Hospital)

Nobuya Fujiki
(Otsu Red Cross Hospital)

Masaharu Sudo
(Katsura Hospital)

       Between 1994 and 1998, we treated 48 patients with perennial allergic rhinitis refractory with conservative therapy by vaporizing the inferior turbinates once for all using a CO₂ laser at Kyoto University Hospital. We conducted a questionnaire survey of these patients to determine the long-term effects of CO₂ laser vaporization. Of the subjects, 27 patients responded to the questionnaire. The severity of nasal symptoms was rated on a scale of 4 (0-4 points) and the response to treatment by nasal symptom was evaluated according to the improvement of scores. The rates of improvement in nasal obstruction, nasal discharge and sneezing were 56％, 41％ and 33％, respectively when reduction of score by more than one point was regarded as effective. To evaluate their long-term prognosis, the subjects were divided into the following two groups according to the period between surgery and questionnairing: patients who underwent surgery during the past three years (short-term group, n＝15) and patients who underwent surgery more than three years ago (long-term group, n＝12). Regarding improvement in scores for individual nasal symptoms, the two groups showed no significant difference. Although the rates of improvement for individual nasal symptoms were as low as approximately 50％, prolonged therapeutic effects could be expected when treatment was effective.

Key words : CO₂ laser, questionnaire survey, long-term effect, allergic rhinitis

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