Outcomes following manipulation of nasal fractures—the Durham experience

Manipulation under anaesthesia of fractured nasal bones - a 10-year retrospective study

BACKGROUND

Nasal bone fractures are treated by manipulation under general or local anaesthesia procedures. Data on long-term benefits of manipulation under local anaesthesia are limited. This study aimed to quantify the proportion of patients requiring septoplasty or septorhinoplasty after manipulation under general and local anaesthesia procedures.

METHODS

Anonymised data were collected from electronic records of all patients who underwent manipulation under anaesthesia at our centre over a 10-year period, including demographics, manipulation under anaesthesia timing and further surgery requirements.

RESULTS

The study identified 625 manipulation under general anaesthesia and 52 manipulation under local anaesthesia procedures. Manipulation under local anaesthesia procedures were performed earlier (local anaesthesia = 9 days, general anaesthesia = 15 days; p < 0.05) and were more likely to achieve manipulation (local anaesthesia = 83 per cent, general anaesthesia = 76 per cent; p < 0.05). There was no difference between techniques in the percentage of patients requiring further surgery.

CONCLUSION

This paper describes a large cohort of patients who underwent manipulation under anaesthesia over a 10-year period. Manipulation under local anaesthesia procedures have increased since the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and the results are comparable to manipulation under general anaesthesia, with reduced delays between injury and manipulation.

Etiology of Nasal Bone Fractures

The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of the etiology of nasal bone fractures (NBFs).In PubMed (500 titles) and Scopus (272), the search terms "nasal bone fracture" AND "etiology OR cause" were used. Among the 772 titles, 137 were duplicated and excluded. The 552 titles were excluded and 83 abstracts were read. Subsequently, 42 abstracts were excluded and 41 full articles providing data on etiologies of NBFs were reviewed. Finally, 26 papers were incorporated into this analysis.The causes of NBFs were different between adults and children. In adults, the most frequent causes were fights (36.3%), traffic accidents (20.8%), sports (15.3%), and falls (13.4%). In children, the most frequent causes were sports (59.3%), fights (10.8%), traffic accidents (8.3%), collisions (5.0%), and falls (3.3%). It is noticeable that fights, traffic accidents, and falls were more frequent in adults than in children, although sports and collisions were more frequent in children than in adults (P < 0.001). The causes of NBFs varied geographically. Fights were the most frequent cause in Asia (36.7%), South America (46.5%), and Europe (40.8%). In North America, however, traffic accidents were the most frequent cause (33.6%), followed by fights (20.7%) and sports (17.3%). Among the sports injuries, ball-related sports were the most frequent cause (84.2%). Fighting-related sports (6.4%) contributed to relatively small proportion of NBFs.In efforts to prevent NBFs in children, sports injuries should be primarily considered. Restraining devices such as seatbelts are needed to prevent NBFs caused by traffic accidents, especially in North America.