To Evaluate the Effect of Nasal Packing on Blood Oxygen Saturation

Objective: To study the effect of nasal packing on blood oxygen saturation. Materials and methods: Study was conducted on 30 patients of deviated nasal septum, who underwent septoplasty under local anesthesia followed by anterior nasal packing. The pulse oximetry was carried out three times on each patient to record the blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) by using digital pulse oximeter. The first reading of SpO2 was taken before nasal packing, second after 24 hours of nasal packing and third 3 weeks after surgery. Statistical analysis was done by Chi-square test and paired t-test. Results: A total of 33.3% patients were below 20 years of age, whereas 60% were between 20 and 30 years of age and 6.7% were above 30 years. Males were 80%. It was observed that preoperative mean SpO2 was 98.3 ± 0.794%, after 24 hours of nasal packing was 97.17 ± 1.744% and 3 weeks after surgery was 98.87 ± 0.629%. On statistical analysis, the difference in SpO2 was highly significant (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The application of nasal packs can be risky in old patients, more so having cardiopulmonary disease. The use of packs with airflow is recommended in these patients who should ideally be monitored with pulse oximetry.