Other complications
Six studies(13,19,21,25,27-18) cited non-haemorrhagic complications. Sensory disturbance or numbness of the lip, palate or teeth was the most common and affected 32 patients in these studies - this was transient in 17 patients(9.7% of patients in relevant studies), and permanent in 7 (4%) patients. Wang(27) and Sonoda(28) reported lip, oral, or pharyngeal numbness in 8 patients (4.6%) but did not specify whether this was permanent or transient. Sonoda(28) reported that all their adverse events including numbness were mild.
Ogi et al.(25) reported 7 patients in their PNN group having persistent numbness, but this was comparable to the percentage of patients in their control group who underwent endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) without PNN. The sensory disturbance was classified as mild in 4 patients and severe in 3 patients.
Two papers reported post-operative adhesions in 23.5%(23) and 6.5%(27) of patients.