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Yong Ju Jang, MD, PhD; Na-Hye Myong, MD, PhD; Keun Hwan Park, MD; Tae Woo Koo, MD; Han-Gyun Kim, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2002;128:421-424.

Objective  To investigate differences in mucociliary clearance, histologic characteristics, and surface structure of the bilateral nasal septal mucosa in patients with nasal septal deviation.

Design  Mucociliary transport was measured by saccharin clearance time in both nasal cavities of 20 patients with nasal septal deviation. Their septal mucosae were taken during septoplasty, and the ciliary population was studied by scanning electron microscopy. Histologic differences in the lamina propria of septal mucosae were compared under a light microscope.

Results  The concave side showed longer saccharin clearance time than the convex side and revealed much more severe loss of cilia. Inflammatory cells more heavily infiltrated the concave side, and seromucinous glands were less densely distributed.

Conclusion  Concave-side septal mucosae have impaired mucociliary transport, presumably due to ciliary loss, increased inflammation, and decreased density of the glandular acini.

From the Departments of Otolaryngology (Drs Jang, Park, Koo, and Kim) and Histopathology (Dr Myong), Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.