Effect of premedication with systemic steroids on surgical field bleeding and visibility during nasosinusal endoscopic surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is the inflammation of the nasal and paranasal sinus mucosa persisting for at least 12 weeks. The success of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) depends on minimising oedema and intraoperative bleeding. For this purpose, some surgeons advocate the use of preoperative systemic steroids (SS). Our aim was to assess if the administration of preoperative SS in patients with CRS with or without nasal polyps (NP) facilitates the surgical procedure.
METHODS: Non-randomized clinical trial in CRS patients with or without NP. Patients in the ESS group received oral meprednisone preoperatively, whereas the control group did not. The visibility of the surgical field, intraoperative bleeding and surgery duration were recorded.
RESULTS: Each group (SS group and control group) included 27 patients. The administration of SS reduced the values of all the parameters in patients without NP, with no significant differences. In patients with NP, only operative bleeding was reduced significantly.
CONCLUSIONS: Even though all the parameters decreased with the preoperative administration of SS, only operative bleeding was significantly reduced in patients with CRS with NP.