Abstract
The degree of mucosal edema was assessed using the decongestion effect achieved with vasoconstrictor spray in 102 patients referred for septoplasty. In preoperative rhinomanometry it was found that 62 patients had high postdecongestion nasal airway resistance (NAR) compared with control material, whereas in 40 cases, NAR was normal before operation. Our results show that the decongestion effect was higher, both pre- and postoperatively, in patients with high preoperative postdecongestion NAR. Although surgery succeeded in normalizing the mean decongestion values in these patients, there still remained considerable mucosal congestion compared to cases with low preoperative resistance. We conclude that a marked septal structural pathology causes not only high postdecongestion resistance, but that abnormal structures of the nasal airway also cause mucosal hypertrophy, mucosal irritation, and inflammation, which is measurable with rhinomanometry as elevated baseline resistance and higher decongestion effect.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.