Authors
Department of Surgery, Medical College, Kirkuk University
Abstract
Background: Epistaxis, or bleeding from the nose, is a common complaint. It is rarely life threatening but may cause significant concern. Most nose bleeds are benign, self-limiting, and spontaneous, but some can be recurrent. Many uncommon causes are also noted. Causes of epistaxis involve; local causes a systemic causes. Management options include; medical treatment, nasal packing, cautery (chemical and electrical), embolization, arterial ligation and surgery. Objectives: To determine the causes of epistaxis in different sexes and different age groups and to know the ways of management of epistaxis in these cases. Patients and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at Azadi teaching hospital and Kirkuk General Hospital in Kirkuk city from (5/1/2014 to9/3 /2015).The total number of 200 cases chosen randomly and the data was collected by interviewing with the patients in the hospital by a special questionnaire contained following questions: Name, age, sex , occupation , date , duration of the bleeding , cause of the bleeding , site of the bleeding and treatment method where we tried a simple handmade posterior pack for those cases of posterior bleeding . Results and discussion: The overall result of our study which included 200 cases (116 males and 84 females) (56%) of the patients who had epistaxis were due to idiopathic causes, inflammatory reaction: (12%), trauma to nose: (10%), hypertension: (6.5%), hereditary haemorrhagic talangiectasia: (3%), nasal tumor: (2.5%), nose picking: (2%), drugs (aspirin): (2%), hemophilia: (1%), renal failure: (1%),Von willebrand disease: (0.5%). Conclusion and Recommendation: Epistaxis occurs due to different local and systemic causes and it affects all age groups and both sexes, with males more than females. Nonsurgical treatment is still useful to arrest nasal bleeding, safe and cost effective and a handmade balloon from simple available hospital materials proved to be very effective in controlling epistaxis especially posterior bleeding.. Epistaxes don't have risk on life, but should not be neglected especially in case of recurrent bleeding, and patients should visit doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment.
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