Epistaxis in Nigerians: a 3-year experience.

Abstract

Background : Epistaxis is a common symptom encountered in\notolaryngological practice.This study was aimed at analyzing the\naetiology, treatment and management outcome of the patients who\npresented with epistaxis at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching\nHospital, Ile – Ife, Nigeria. Methods :This is a prospective\nstudy of all consecutive patients that presented with epistaxis to our\nemergency rooms and ENT clinics from January 2003 to December 2005.\nEvaluation of patient included a detailed history taking and clinical\nexamination. Control of epistaxis was obtained by treatment ranging\nfrom cauterization, anterior nasal packing to arterial ligation.\nAnalysis was done using SPSS11. Results : A total of 106 patients who\nhad on-going epistaxis were enrolled for the study. Eighty- two (77.4%)\nwere male and 24 patients (22.6%) were female. Peak age incidence was\nin the age group 21- 40 (53.8%). Epistaxis was less common in the\nextremes of life. The most common aetiology was trauma (70.8%) Others\nincluded nasopharyngeal carcinoma, sinonasal carcinoma, sinusitis and\nallergic rhinitis. Majority of the patients (79.1%) were managed by\nnasal packing. All patients with atraumatic epistaxis (29.2%) had\nprevious history of nasal bleeds. Blood transfusion was needed for 20\n(18.9%) patients. The complication and mortality rates as a result of\nepistaxis were 1.9% (2 patients) and 0.9% (1 patient) respectively.\nMean hospital stay was 5days + 2.68. Conclusion : Most epistaxis\npatient can be managed by a non-interventional method. Surgical\nInterventional treatment should only be used following failure of\nadequate non-interventional treatment. Complication rate was low.