Epistaxis in Nigerians: A 3-year experience

Background: Epistaxis is a common symptom encountered in otolaryngological practice.This study was aimed at analyzing the aetiology, treatment and management outcome of the patients who presented with epistaxis at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile – Ife, Nigeria.Methods: This is a prospective study of all consecutive patients that presented with epistaxis to our emergency rooms and ENT clinics from January 2003 to December 2005. Evaluation of patient included a detailed history taking and clinical examination. Control of epistaxis was obtained by treatment ranging from cauterization, anterior nasal packing to arterial ligation. Analysis was done using SPSS11.Results: A total of 106 patients who had on-going epistaxis were enrolled for the study. Eighty- two (77.4%) were male and 24 patients (22.6%) were female. Peak age incidence was in the age group 21- 40 (53.8%). Epistaxis was less common in the extremes of life. The most common aetiology was trauma (70.8%) Others included nasopharyngeal carcinoma, sinonasal carcinoma, sinusitis and allergic rhinitis. Majority of the patients (79.1%) were managed by nasal packing. All patients with atraumatic epistaxis (29.2%) had previous history of nasal bleeds. Blood transfusion was needed for 20 (18.9%) patients. The complication and mortality rates as a result of epistaxis were 1.9% (2 patients) and 0.9% (1 patient) respectively. Mean hospital stay was 5days ± 2.68.Conclusion: Most epistaxis patient can be managed by a non-interventional method. Surgical Interventional treatment should only be used following failure of adequate non-interventional treatment. Complication rate was low