The Effect of Right or Left Nostril Selection for Nasotracheal Intubation on the Incidence of Complications in the Patients under Maxillofacial Surgery

A significant number of patients undergoing maxillofacial surgery needs nasotracheal intubation. In nasotracheal intubation, selecting the most appropriate nostril regarding normal anatomical conditions can be effective in reducing the time needed to pass the tube through the nose and epistaxis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of choosing right or left nostril on the post nasotracheal intubation complications.

In this study, 111 patients underwent maxillofacial surgery with nasotracheal intubation of the left (n = 55) and the right nostril (n = 56), were enrolled. Intubation time and complications such as bleeding, epistaxis, bronchospasm, vomiting, and submucosal intubation were recorded and compared between the two groups.

The time of intubation through the right nostril with 55.72 ± 51.47 seconds was not significantly different from the left nostril with 57.86±48.88 seconds (P = 0.826). In contrast, the incidence of epistaxis in intubation through the right nostril with 25.0% was significantly lower than the left one with 43.6% (P = 0.039).

 According to the results of this study, although the time of intubation through the both nostrils was not different between the two groups, the incidence of epistaxis and its severity in the intubation through the right nostril were far less than the left one. Therefore, it seems that the right nostril be an appropriate pathway of intubation in the patients with a natural-looking nose.