Covid-19 is transmitted mainly by respiratory droplets and as the upper airway mucosa is the first innate immune barrier, it is crucial to understand the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on this system. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate the nasal mucociliary clearance in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and their symptom development. Observational cross-sectional study. The nasal mucociliary clearance (NMC) time was evaluated by the saccharin test and the results were compared between patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection (group 1) and controls (group 2, asymptomatic patients with a negative polymerase chain reaction test). We also compared the NMC time for each specific symptom suffered by participants in group 1 with the NMC time of the control group as well as with the patients in group 1 who were asymptomatic. There was a significant increase in NMC time in group 1 with dyspnea when compared to the control group (
p
= 0.032) and also when compared to patients who were infected were not dyspneic (
p
= 0.04). There were no differences in the clearance times when considering other symptoms. COVID-19 patients with dyspnea present with altered nasal mucociliary clearance.
ObjectiveA deviated nasal septum (DNS) can result in an anatomical obstruction and impact lung function through prolonged suboptimal inspiration. Given the improvements in respiration reported by patients following septoplasty or septorhinoplasty (with or without inferior turbinate reduction), our study investigated the effect of these procedures on pulmonary function through a systematic review and meta‐analysis.Data SourcesMedline, Embase, Cochrane Databases, Web of Science, and Google Scholar.Review MethodsThe review was registered with PROSPERO [CRD42022316309]. The study population was composed of adult patients (18–65) who were symptomatic with confirmed DNS. Extracted outcomes (pre‐operative versus postoperative) included the six‐minute walk test (6MWT) and pulmonary function tests (FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, FEF25‐75, PEF). Meta‐analyses were performed using a random‐effects model.ResultsThree studies included measures of the 6MWT in meters and all three found a statistically significant increase in the distance walked after surgery with a mean difference of 62.40 m (95% CI 24.79–100.00). Statistically significant improvements in PFT outcomes were observed with a standard mean difference of 0.72 for FEV1 (95% CI 0.31–1.13), 0.63 for FVC (95% CI 0.26–1.00), and 0.64 for PEF (95% CI 0.47–0.82). Of the twelve studies which measured PFT outcomes, six showed statistically significant improvements, three studies showed mixed results, and three studies found no difference in PFT outcomes between pre‐and post‐surgery testing.ConclusionsThe present study suggests that pulmonary function does improve after nasal surgery for DNS, but the high heterogeneity observed in the meta‐analyses indicates that the evidence supporting this conclusion is low. Laryngoscope, 2023
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