Kwun Chul, Yang Chul Won, Kim Sung Wan, Lee Kun Hee
a Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine , Kyung Hee University , Seoul , Korea.
Acta Otolaryngol. 2016;136(3):330-2. doi: 10.3109/00016489.2015.1108523. Epub 2015 Nov 17.
MCT is a useful tool to pre-operatively determine whether internal nasal valve (INV) narrowing affects a nasal obstruction. Functional rhinoplasty seemed to produce better results than septoplasty in Asian patients with a nasal obstruction, due to INV narrowing.
This study compared pre-operative modified Cottle test (MCT) findings and post-operative clinical improvement according to surgical approach in an Asian population.
One-hundred and sixty-four patients who underwent septal surgery were enrolled. The clinical symptoms, radiological findings, and paranasal computed tomography (PNS CT) scan results were compared and analyzed between the MCT-positive and -negative groups, focusing on internal nasal valve narrowing. Post-operative clinical improvement were also compared based on whether septoplasty or functional rhinoplasty was performed.
The MCT-positive group had significantly higher pre-operative visual analog scale scores for nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea than those in the negative group. The MCT-positive group had a significantly higher percentage of highly deviated septa on PNS CT and endoscopic findings than those in the MCT-negative group. The functional rhinoplasty group had a significantly higher MCT conversion rate (positive to negative) and improvement in nasal obstruction than those in the septoplasty group.
