A randomised clinical trial of antiseptic nasal carrier cream and silver nitrate cautery in the treatment of recurrent anterior epistaxis

Abstract

Sixty-four consecutive patients with a history of recurrent epistaxis were randomly assigned in the outpatient clinic to receive treatment with either Naseptin antiseptic nasal carrier cream alone (Group A) or a combination of Naseptin cream and silver nitrate cautery (Group B). Results were available on 50 patients, 22 in Group A and 28 in Group B. Twenty patients (91%) in Group A and 25 patients (89%) in Group B demonstrated improvement in their symptoms. There was no statistically significant difference in outcome between the two treatment arms (P = 0.7569). On comparing the different age groups (under and over 16 years) in the two treatment arms, once again there was no statistically significant difference in the treatment outcome (P = 1.000). In conclusion, silver nitrate cautery offers no added advantage to the management of simple epistaxis in both children and adults.