title: Comparison between effects of various partial inferior turbinectomy options on nasal airflow: a computer simulation study.
abstract: Partial inferior turbinectomy is typically performed on patients suffering from chronic nasal obstruction due to hypertrophy of inferior turbinates and is refractory to other more conservative treatments. The effects of the various options of incision performed on the inferior turbinate in terms of the resulting nasal airflow pattern are examined using computational fluid mechanics. The pressure drops across the severely blocked nose and healthy nose models were found to be 32.3 and 12.3 Pa, respectively, whereas the pressure drops across the nasal cavity following one-third turbinate resection, total turbinate resection and front-end resection were obtained as 5.8, 6.1 and 30.5 Pa correspondingly. Based on the total pressure drop results, the one-third resection option seems to be better than the front-end surgery and the total turbinate resection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117576, Singapore.
authors.forename: Heow Pueh
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Revanth Reddy
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Garlapati
authors.forename: Vincent Fook Hin
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: De Yun
authors.initials: de Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D015508:Nasal Obstruction / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D059747:Nasal Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D011312:Pressure; D015656:Respiratory Mechanics; D014420:Turbinates / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*