Many patients may not take nasal congestion seriously, thinking that it is just a nasal ventilation that is not very smooth and has no effect on health, or arbitrarily believe that nasal congestion cannot be cured because they have not received regular treatment.
Chronic nasal congestion is one of the symptoms that can be easily overlooked but potentially very harmful. It is often accompanied by clear or pus flow, nasal itching, sneezing, swelling and pain around the eyes or ear congestion, ear swelling and hearing loss. The causes of nasal congestion mostly originate from nasal lesions such as deviated septum, chronic rhinitis, allergic rhinitis and nasal polyps, nasal papilloma, etc. In children, nasal congestion is mostly caused by rhinitis and adenoid hypertrophy.
Continuous chronic nasal congestion has a very serious impact on human health, especially on the central nervous system and circulatory system. Damage to the brain, the early manifestation is only mental ill-health, easy fatigue, low learning efficiency, etc. Long-term hypoventilation, hypoxemia and hypercapnia will cause cerebral vasospasm, obstruction (cerebral infarction), cerebral atrophy, dementia, etc.; damage to the heart, myocardial hypoxia will lead to myocardial dysfunction, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, etc.; long-term chronic hypoxia will also lead to the contraction of capillaries throughout the body, causing or aggravate hypertension. Some patients have nasal congestion especially at night, which is related to body position and seriously affects the quality of sleep, often leading to narrowing of the upper airway due to nasal congestion, sleep snoring, breath-holding and apnea, called “sleep apnea hypoventilation syndrome (OSAHS)”, which is a serious sleep disorder. In severe cases, it may lead to sudden death in sleep at night.
Chronic nasal congestion in children can lead to growth arrest, abnormal jaw development, mental retardation, brain hypoxia, drowsiness, poor concentration, memory and academic performance, and otitis media and hearing loss.
Therefore, early detection, intervention of chronic nasal congestion is very necessary, for the country, the early years of hard work in spite of health if in exchange for the poor quality of life in later life, it would be very regrettable.
The treatment of chronic nasal congestion is generally two kinds of medication and surgical treatment. Before treatment, it is recommended to visit the outpatient clinic of otorhinolaryngology, head and neck surgery, where a specialist will take a detailed medical history, examine and evaluate the nasal cavity, combine with nasal endoscopy and sinus CT examination if necessary to clearly determine the cause of nasal congestion, and carry out targeted treatment according to the cause. For patients with moderate to severe chronic nasal congestion, nasal examination indicates clear anatomical abnormalities of the nasal cavity, such as nasal polyps, deviated nasal septum, chronic rhinitis, turbinate hypertrophy, etc., surgical treatment is required to relieve the symptoms of nasal congestion.
Minimally invasive functional nasal endoscopic surgery (FESS) concept, through minimally invasive surgery under nasal endoscopy for chronic rhinosinusitis, nasal polyps, deviated septum, pediatric adenoidectomy, etc., overcomes the disadvantages of traditional nasal sinus surgery that requires incisions in the face, slow recovery, sinus opening is not easy to open, and lesions are easily left behind. Under the direct vision of nasal endoscopy, we can use minimally invasive aspirator to excise the hypertrophic turbinate tissues or to excise the nasal polyps and open the sinuses to reduce the chance of recurrence after the operation, which is significantly better than traditional surgery. In 2012, the department again introduced a new German high-definition nasal endoscopy system, which can further improve the quality of minimally invasive surgery under clear vision, reduce patient trauma, shorten hospitalization time and save patient costs.
Minimally invasive nasal endoscopic stuffing technology is used to stop bleeding by plasma, electrocoagulation and other hemostatic techniques. After the operation, there is no need to extract the stuffing again, reducing the patient’s secondary pain and obtaining good results, which is well received by patients.