Impact of Septoplasty on Cognitive Function.

Objective: This study explored the impact of septoplasty on cognitive functions, including selective attention, information processing speed, and response inhibition and investigated the factors associated with these effects. Methods: A total of 73 patients who underwent septoplasty for septal deviation were included. Assessments were conducted at baseline and again at six months postoperatively to evaluate the nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) score, peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF), Sniffin' Sticks (SS), retronasal olfactory threshold test (ROTT), and Stroop test. Wilcoxon signed-rank and McNemar's tests were used to analyse differences between repeated measurements obtained before and after surgery. Additionally, Spearman's correlation, linear regression, and logistic regression analyses were performed. Results with p-value ≤0.05 were considered significant. Results: Postoperative assessments revealed statistically significant improvements in NOSE, PNIF, SS discrimination, SS TDI, ROTT, and Stroop A-D scores (each p<0.05). SS TDI and ROTT scores were significantly correlated both preoperatively (r=0.238) and postoperatively (r=0.295). Furthermore, significant correlations were observed among NOSE, PNIF, SS, ROTT, and Stroop tests. However, PNIF, SS, and ROTT did not show any statistically significant improvement in the postoperative cognitive test results. Conclusions: Septoplasty significantly improved nasal airflow, both orthonasal and retronasal olfaction, and cognitive functions, including selective attention, information-processing speed, and response inhibition. However, it is unclear whether cognitive improvements are attributable to enhanced olfactory function or alleviation of nasal obstruction.