An investigation on airflow in pathological nasal airway by PIV

Abstract

Understanding of airflow characteristics in nasal cavity is closely related with the physiological functions, like air-conditioning and smelling, and pathological aspects in nasal breathing. Several studies have utilized physical models of the healthy nasal cavity to investigate the relationship between nasal anatomy and airflow. The next step on this topic is naturally studies for disordered nasal airways and this is the main purpose of this article. Airflows in the pathological nasal airways, including nasal cavity and upper pharynx, of Korean adults are investigated experimentally by PIV measurement technique and air resistance measurements. Quantitative data for normal and pathological nasal airway are obtained. Average and RMS velocity distributions are obtained for inspirational and expirational nasal airflows. The CBC PIV algorithm with window offset is used for PIV flow analysis. PIV measurements of nasal airflow for nasal cavities with 50% and 70% adenoid vegetation are conducted for the first time. The asymmetric nasal cavities, due to either congenital deformity or injury, are also investigated. Comparisons in nasal airflows for both normal and abnormal cases are also appreciated and airflow characteristics that are related with the abnormalities in nasal cavity are proposed.