Last update:
17-Sep-2004

Epistaxis is a serious and urgent condition in which general practitioner and the ENT surgeon are involved. The experience is presented of surgical intervention in the case of refractory epistaxis. The experience of the surgical intervention of epistaxis in 17 patients is described including ligation of the anterior ethmoid and internal maxillary arteries (14 patients), the posterior and anterior ethmoid arteries (1 patient), the external carotid artery (1 patient), and dermoplasty of the nasal septum (1 patient). The follow-up period was 1 to 6 years. There was a recurrence in one patient who had undergone dermoplasty and who suffered from the Rendu-Osler-Weber disease. The other 16 patients never had an episode of epistaxis again. Epistaxis is quite a common disease. As a rule, the physician can easily and promptly treat the epistaxis, or it stops without any medical assistance. If it persists or when the bleeding vessel is in a region difficult to access or the health status of the patient is not good, the epistaxis may become a serious condition. Thus, ligation of the ethmoid, internal maxillary or external carotid arteries may be necessary.

Key words: Αrterial ligation, Epistaxis.