CT analysis of the anterior nasal airway based on the direction of nasal airflow in patients with nasal obstruction and trauma controls.

Purpose: The anterior nose is the nasal segment with the highest resistance to airflow. In a hospital-based case-control study, we compared cross-sectional areas of the nasal cavities anterior to the piriform aperture determined by computed tomography (CT-CSA) in patients with nasal obstruction (cases) and unselected patients with trauma unrelated to the head and face (controls).

Methods: CT-CSA could be reproducibly identified at angles of 0, 30°, 60°, and 90° to the nasal floor approximately perpendicular to the arcuate direction of nasal airflow using bony landmarks.