Clinico-Epidemiological Evaluation of Patients with Sinonasal Masses Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in Jharkhand, India

Background: The nasal cavity may contain a wide range of masses that distinguish this organ from the rest of the body. In clinical practise, benign nasal and paranasal sinus masses are common. Aims: The study's objectives were to assess the clinico-epidemiological profile of nasal masses in patients attending ear, nose, throat and head and neck surgery (ENT & HNS) OPD of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi from January 2013 to December 2015) and to categorise the nasal masses based on their percentage of occurrence.

Methods: This retrospective study was designed to evaluate clinico-epidemiological data collected from the admission register of the ENT Department at RIMS, Ranchi from 2013 to 2015. For this time period, the total sample size was 240. MS Excel sheets were used to create templates, and SSPS software was used for analysis.

Results: With the three year data analysis of 240 patients, we came up with the result that nasal masses were more common in age group of <20 years (52%), occurred more in males (68.4%), most of the patients were tribals (72.9%), mostly from rural areas (60%), and maximum of them were diagnosed as antrochoanal polyps (37.9%). Nasal obstruction was the most common presenting complaint (85.8 %), followed by nasal discharge (52.9 % ).

Conclusions: Antrochoanal polyps are the most common type of nasal masses, primarily affecting tribal males from rural Jharkhand and causing nasal obstruction. Surgery is the treatment of choice for benign lesions. Certain benign tumors have high potential for malignant transformation while others can present with locally destructive features and deformities.