Acoustic rhinometry for patients with nose deformities

OBJECTIVE To investigate the application value of acoustic rhinometry in evaluation of the patients with nasal deformities before operation. METHODS A total of 15 cases with nasal deformities and 15 adults without nasal obstruction as control group were enrolled in this study.The acoustic rhinometry was carried out and the parameters of nasal minimal cross-sectional area(NMCA),nasal cavity volume (NCV),distance of the minimal cross-sectional area to the nostril(DCAN),and nasal resistance(NR) were measured,recorded and analyzed.RESULTS There was no significantly difference for NMCA,DCAN,NCV and NR between the left and right side in control group (P0.05),but there was a significantly difference in parameters between the nasal obstruction side and the no obstruction side in patients with nose deformities (P0.001).In nasal obstruction side,NCV,NR, NMCA were significant smaller than those in control group(P0.001).It was showed that the values of NMCA and NCV had a negative correlation with NR,and had no correlation with DCAN(P0.05). CONCLUSION The results indicate that acoustic rhinometry has great value in evaluation of patients with nasal deformities before operation and can provide clinical value for the evaluation of nasal function and geometrical structure.