The Importance of Nasofrontal Angle in Recurrent Childhood Idiopathic Epistaxis

Abstract

Aim: Epistaxis is a common, usually self-limiting, clinical condition in childhood. Many factors have been identified in the etiology of epistaxis although one third of epistaxis called idiopathic. Anatomical structure of nose should be taken into account in the evaluation of patients with recurrent idiopathic epistaxis. Aim of this study to reveal whether or not there is any correlation between nasofrontal angle and recurrent idiopathic epistaxis in children. Methods:The patients referred to the pediatric and ear-nose-throat outpatient clinics for recurrent epistaxis between October 2014-April 2015 were enrolled in the study and accepted as study group. The control group was chosen from patients without epistaxis. The NFA was measured with a commercial angle meter under normal anatomic position by the same researcher.Results: Sixty-two subjects with recurrent idiopathic epistaxis and ninety subjects without epistaxis were enrolled in this study and named as the study group and the control group, respectively. The mean NFA of the study group was 139.29 ± 6 (125-159)º while the mean NFA of the control group was 133.8 ± 4.8 (123-146)º. The NFA in the study group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.001). Conclusion:Increased NFA can be accepted as one of the abnormalities in the anatomical structure of the nose in the etiologic classification of epistaxis. More researches will be needed to identify the importance of NFA for recurrent idiopathic epistaxis.