STUDY OF THE HEIGHT MEASUREMENT OF THE SUPERIOR NASAL CONCHA IN RELATION TO THE SKULL BASE IN PATIENTS WHO UNDERWENT ENDOSCOPIC NASAL SURGERY AT IPO HOSPITAL

Abstract

The nasal conchae are able to increase the volume of the nasal mucosa and regulate the respiratory flow. In embryology, while the inferior turbinate is a separate structure, the middle, superior, and supreme turbinates originate from the uppermost portion of the septum. In surgical access to the posterior sinuses, especially the sphenoid sinus, and in the access to the skull base, the identification of the superior turbinate is very important, as this structure is connected superiorly to the skull base and is in front of the anterior wall of the sphenoid sinus. Based on this premise, in this study we investigated the measurement of the height of the superior nasal concha in relation to the skull base, in the intraoperative period and CT scans of facial sinuses, in 20 patients who underwent endoscopic nasal surgery at the IPO Hospital. Then, we averaged and compared those data. We concluded that tomographic measurements do not adequately predict intraoperative measurements. Therefore, we must consider the mean intraoperative measurement of the height of the superior nasal concha in relation to the skull base as an important parameter in order to avoid complications during the surgical procedure — an unprecedented data in the medical literature to date.