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Evaluation Of Anxiety During Nasal Pack Removal In Patients Operated Under Local Versus General Anesthesia

Objective: To evaluate the anxiety experienced before, during and after conventional paraffin gauze nasal pack removal in patients operated under local versus general anesthesia. Study design: Comparative study. Place and duration of study: Department of ENT, Combined Military Hospital Sialkot and PAF Hospital Shorkot from July 2017 to June 2018. Material and methods: A total of 120 patients planned for Septoplasty were enrolled and divided into two groups. Sixty patients were to be operated under local anesthesia (Group A) while the other 60 were undergoing the same procedure under general anesthesia (Group B). Conventional paraffin gauze nasal packing was done for 24 hours in all 120 patients. Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) was used to determine the patients’ anxiety in both groups, 1 hour pre-operatively, immediately before and 1 hour after nasal pack removal. Results: The mean Hamilton Anxiety Scale assessment scores in both groups were of ‘mild’ category. The highest scores in both groups were observed immediately before nasal pack removal, with a range of 15-18, while the lowest scores in both groups were documented one hour after pack removal with a range of 13-16. Anxiety level in patients operated under general anesthesia was slightly lower than patients administered local anesthesia mean score of 16.40 ± 0.763 vs 17.21 ± 0.666 (p<0.001). Conclusion: Anxiety during nasal pack removal is mainly associated with prior pain experienced during nasal pack insertion. It is recommended that proper analgesia, adequate topical anesthesia, gentle insertion would make this process less distressing and will subsequently result in less anxiety at its removal.