Nasal packs with X-ray indicators.

Nasal packing is routinely performed by many surgeons following nasal surgery and is also frequently used for the treatment of epistaxis. The use of nasal packing, however, is sometimes associated with serious complications such as aspiration, bowel perforation, obstructive apnea, and hypoxia. This author has also once had the experience of losing a nasal pack during a procedure performed on a mentally impaired patient. If a nasal pack could be easily tracked by x-ray, treatment would be faster and easier. We now use x-ray indicators quilted into our nasal packs, which enable us to find the packs quickly and easily with plain x-ray film.