Departamento de Termofluidos, DIMEI, Facultad de Ingeniería, UNAM Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, D.F., Mexico.
Med Biol Eng Comput. 2018 Oct;56(10):1899-1910. doi: 10.1007/s11517-018-1823-2. Epub 2018 Apr 16.
Air conditioning for the human respiratory system is the most important function of the nose. When obstruction occurs in the nasal airway, turbinectomy is used to correct such pathology. However, mucosal atrophy may occur sometime after this surgery when it is overdone. There is not enough information about long-term recovery of nasal air conditioning performance after partial or total surgery. The purpose of this research was to assess if, based on the flow and temperature/humidity characteristics of the air intake to the choana, partial resection of turbinates is better than total resection. A normal nasal cavity geometry was digitized from tomographic scans and a model was printed in 3D. Dynamic (sinusoidal) laboratory tests and computer simulations of airflow were conducted with full agreement between numerical and experimental results. Computational adaptations were subsequently performed to represent six turbinectomy variations and a swollen nasal cavity case. Streamlines along the nasal cavity and temperature and humidity distributions at the choana indicated that the middle turbinate partial resection is the best alternative. These findings may facilitate the diagnosis of nasal obstruction and can be useful both to plan a turbinectomy and to reduce postoperative discomfort. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.
空气调节是人体呼吸系统最重要的功能，而鼻子则承担着这一功能。当鼻腔气道受阻时，鼻甲切除术被用于纠正这种病理状况。然而，当手术过度时，鼻甲切除术后有时会出现黏膜萎缩。对于部分或全部手术切除后鼻腔空气调节性能的长期恢复情况，目前还没有足够的信息。本研究的目的是评估根据进入后鼻孔的空气的流量和温度/湿度特性，鼻甲部分切除术是否优于鼻甲全部切除术。从断层扫描中数字化正常鼻腔几何形状，并以 3D 打印模型。对气流进行了动态（正弦）实验室测试和计算机模拟，数值和实验结果完全一致。随后进行了计算调整，以代表六种鼻甲切除术的变化和鼻腔肿胀的情况。沿着鼻腔的流线和后鼻孔处的温度和湿度分布表明，鼻甲中部部分切除术是最佳选择。这些发现可能有助于诊断鼻阻塞，并可用于计划鼻甲切除术和减少术后不适。
