title: Normal range of peak nasal inspiratory flow and its role in nasal septal surgery.
abstract: Nasal obstruction can be evaluated by objective and subjective methods. We sought to determine normative peak nasal inspiratory flow meter (PNIF) measurements of a healthy population in Turkey and to investigate the importance of PNIF in surgery for nasal septal deviation as well as to investigate the correlation of PNIF with subjective methods. In a total of 269 patients, 50 patients underwent septoplasty and 219 control subjects were enrolled in the study. Data on preoperative and postoperative PNIF measurements, nasal septal indices, and subjective measurements (visual analogue scale, VAS) were recorded. Mean PNIF value was 137.8 L/min in control subjects. Postoperative PNIF, VAS, and nasal septal index data were statistically significantly higher in the study group as compared with those of preoperative data. We found PNIF, VAS, and nasal septal indices of the control group to be consistent with postoperative data and to be higher than preoperative data of the study group. We identified a normal PNIF range for the healthy Turkish population and we saw that the data were compatible with VAS scores. PNIF seems to be a very effective method in the evaluation of nasal obstruction and in deciding operation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Haseki Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Haluk M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ozkul
authors.forename: Huseyin H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Balikci
authors.forename: Mustafa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Gurdal
authors.forename: Saban
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Celebi
authors.forename: Husamettin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yasar
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karakas
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D001239:Inhalation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015508:Nasal Obstruction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D009300:Nasal Septum / Q000601:surgery*; D009666:Nose / Q000502:physiology*; D009667:Nose Deformities, Acquired / Q000601:surgery; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012225:Rhinoplasty / Q000379:methods; D064232:Visual Analog Scale; D055815:Young Adult