A retrospective comparison between standard septoplasty and extracorporeal septoplasty
Reviewed by Eduardo Morera Serna

This paper shows the results of a retrospective study made on 169 patients with nasal obstruction due to a deviated nasal septum who were operated using a standard septoplasty technique or performing an extracorporeal septoplasty. Postoperative nasal patency, aesthetic outcome, complications or surgical time were compared between both techniques. The decision to choose which technique to use was taken in the operating theatre by the surgeon based on subjective grade of deviation of the septal framework. The results of the study show that extracorporeal septoplasty achieves the same or better improvement in all fields even though it is usually chosen for the worst cases, and even total surgical time was not significantly increased by its use. Revision cases were also suitable for this procedure and when grafting was required conchal and costal cartilage were the selected donor sites. Since its original description by King and Ashley in 1952 and its popularisation by Gübisch in the 90s extracorporeal septoplasty has become a useful technique, especially for the severely deviated nasal septum. Although it is not easy, consistently good results are achieved by those nasal surgeons who have it in their armamentarium. It is interesting to note that even total surgical time can be similar to standard septoplasty when performed by experienced surgeons, and the functional outcome is superior. An interesting paper for the ‘nose’ surgeons.

Treatment outcomes of extracorporeal septoplasty compared with in situ septal correction in rhinoplasty.
Lee SB, Jang YJ.
JAMA FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY
2014;16(5):328-34.