Efficacy of Preoperative Transcatheter Arterial Embolization for Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma: A Comparative Study

Objective This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the efficacy and safety of preoperative transcatheter arterial embolization (pTAE) for treating nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (NPAF). Methods Seventy-four NPAF patients were hospitalized for elective surgical treatment with pTAE (pTAE group, n = 32) or surgical treatment alone (non-pTAE group, n = 42) between January 1990 and December 2013. The following outcome measures were retrospectively analyzed and compared: intraoperative bleeding volume, surgery time (ST), duration of postoperative hospital stay (PHS), and disease recurrence. Results Among Radkowski stage I patients, those in pTAE group had a slightly higher but not significant bleeding volume than patients in non-pTAE group (344 ± 407 vs. 248 ± 219 mL, P = 0.899); among stage II/III patients, however, patients in pTAE group showed a significantly lower bleeding volume than patients in non-pTAE group (stage II, 829 ± 519 vs. 1339 ± 767 mL, P = 0.035; stage III, 1267 ± 592 vs. 2125 ± 479 mL, P = 0.024). The two groups presented comparable OTs, PHSs, and rates of frontal recurrence (all P >0.05). Conclusions pTAE significantly reduces intraoperative bleeding in NPAF patients with Radkowski stage II/III disease, but offers no additional benefits regarding ST, PHS, or recurrence.