Patient 3 (Problem fixable – problem fixed).
Video – https://youtu.be/YW8KSRhAs5M.
Patient had problem – post-nasal drip and nasal congestion for years and went to a hospital in KL where he had sinus surgery done in November 2020. Post-operative recovery was smooth but he was still having nasal congestion and his post-nasal drip was the same as before the surgery especially on his right side. He went to his operating surgeon who could not find anything wrong to cause the PNDrip and prescribed him nasal spray and anti-histamines. This continued for 5 months and after 6 visits to his ENT surgeon, he came to me for a consult and seemed to be in disbelieve and having an incredulous look on his face when I told him the root cause.
This case is being shared because it has many lessons.
Lesson for ENT Surgeon is that we must always make sure that the problem is thoroughly addressed. There are times where the diseased sinus cells are very close to the skull base with only 1mm thick bone separating the diseased cell from the brain or the eyeball. This patient’s surgery was not only incomplete but a new problem was created which made his post nasal drip(PNDrip) much worse than before the surgery.
Lesson for patient is none – he did everything a patient should do:
- He saw an ENT surgeon and
- He went to get a second opinion because he was advised surgery.
- He went back to the first surgeon who diagnosed his problem for the surgery.