title: The histopathology of the hypertrophic inferior turbinate.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the hypertrophic inferior turbinate (IT).
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, nonrandomized, controlled, morphometric study.
  
  
  METHODS
  University-affiliated hospital. Subjects Seventeen patients with refractory IT hypertrophy and 12 with normal ITs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty ITs were removed from patients with refractory IT hypertrophy and 14 from patients with normal ITs.
  
  
  METHODS
  The soft tissue and bony elements and the relative proportions of the soft tissue constituents of the hypertrophic and normal ITs were measured and compared. The Bonferroni correction was used to adjust for multiple comparisons. Qualitative assessment was performed to assess possible pathologic changes in all IT tissues.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The hypertrophic ITs were significantly wider. The medial mucosal layer, which thickened from a mean +/- SD of 1.39 +/- 0.28 mm to 2.53 +/- 0.56 mm (P</=.001), made the greatest contribution to the total increase in the width of the IT (64.4%). The enlargement in width of the lateral mucosal layer from 0.91 +/- 0.26 mm to 1.26 +/- 031 mm was of borderline statistical significance. The portion of the medial, lateral, and inferior layers of the lamina propria that houses inflammatory cells enlarged significantly in patients with IT hypertrophy compared with healthy control subjects. The relative proportion of the connective tissue, submucosal glands, and arteries remained unchanged, whereas that of venous sinusoids increased significantly in all aspects of the hypertrophic mucosa. Fibrosis, inflammation, and engorged venous sinusoids were noted in hypertrophic ITs, yet there was no evidence of tissue destruction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Understanding the histopathology of the hypertrophic IT is imperative for the development and management of IT reduction surgery.
authors.affiliation: Histopathologic Research Laboratory and Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel.
authors.forename: Gilead
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gass
authors.forename: Dov
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ophir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006984:Hypertrophy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000473:pathology*; D015508:Nasal Obstruction / Q000473:pathology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014420:Turbinates / Q000473:pathology*