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The degree of crushing applied is important for long-term clinical outcome of autogenous crushed cartilage grafts. Slight or moderate crushing of cartilage creates an outstanding graft material for concealing irregularities and provides both excellent long-term clinical outcome and predictable esthetic results.

When any type of imaging is used for comparison with nasal valve areas determined by acoustic rhinometry, the cross-sections should be perpendicular to the acoustic pathway. The results of the study show that acoustic rhinometry is a valuable method for measuring nasal valve area.

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Neither a specific growth pattern nor a specific factor affecting the growth rate of these tumors could be demonstrated. Follow-up is necessary because of the potential severe complications.

We used pipe models to investigate the effects of paranasal sinus ostium size and paranasal sinus volume on the area-distance curves derived by acoustic rhinometry (AR). Each model had a Helmholtz resonator or a short neck as a side branch that simulated the paranasal sinus and sinus ostium. The AR-derived cross-sectional areas posterior to the ostium were significantly overestimated. Sinus volume affected the AR measurements only when the sinus was connected via a relatively large ostium. The experimental area-distance curve posterior to the side branch showed pronounced oscillations in association with low-frequency acoustic resonances in this distal part of the pipe. The experimental results are discussed in terms of theoretically calculated "sound-power reflection coefficients" for the pipe models used. The results indicate that the effects of paranasal sinuses and low-frequency acoustic resonances in the posterior part of the nasal cavity are not accounted for in the current AR algorithms. AR does not provide reliable information about sinus ostium size, sinus volume, or cross-sectional area in the distal parts of nasal cavity.

BACKGROUND: Various surgical treatment modalities are available for inferior turbinate (IT) hypertrophy. Each is related with well-established complications, but still there is a lack of consensus on the optimal technique. Outfracture of the IT is thought to be a minimal destructive procedure among all other reductive turbinate interventions. Our aim was to assess the long term effects of IT outfracture technique in patients with mild or moderate IT hypertrophies. METHODS: Twenty ITs in 10 patients were outfractured during a septoplasty procedure. The distance of the IT bone to the lateral nasal wall was compared at 3 different levels of the nasal passage before and after (at 9 months) surgery with computed tomography scans of each patient at (1) the first section in which the IT bone could be seen entirely (anterior portion), (2) the level of the maxillary sinus ostium (middle portion), (3) the last section in which the IT bone could be seen entirely (posterior portion). RESULTS: A statistically significant degree of lateralization was observed at all levels in all patients. The mean lateralization rates were 15%, 26%, and 23% for the right side, and 26%, 29%, and 25% for the left side at first, second, and third levels, respectively. There was no bleeding, edema, or crusting due to the outfracture procedure in any patient. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that outfracture of the IT is an effective and durable technique, which can be performed easily to enlarge the nasal airway in mild and moderate IT hypertrophies with minimal morbidity.

There exists no functional guide that can serve as a diagnostic tool for individual susceptibility to motion sickness (MS). We evaluated vestibular system functioning via a caloric test (which assesses functioning of the superior vestibular nerve) and the vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) test (which assesses inferior vestibular nerve functioning) in 20 MS susceptible and 20 nonsusceptible individuals. Susceptibility to MS was determined by self-declaration and with MS susceptibility questionnaire and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAS). We found statistically significant differences for scores on the MS susceptibility questionnaire and HAS questionnaire; however, we found no correlation between VEMP and caloric test results. We suggest that VEMP and caloric test results are not affected by individuals' susceptibility to MS. We could not find vestibular system deficits using the VEMP and caloric test combination. Our findings do not support vestibular function asymmetry in MS patients.