The Anatomical Study of the Nasal Septum in North-East Thai Cadavers
Abstract
Backgound and objective: The nasal septum is composed of the perpendicular plate of ethmoid (PPE), the vomer (VB) and the septal cartilage (SC). The variations of nasal septum cadavers have been shown with differences among populations and they are important in clinical assessments of individual nasal surgery. These variant septums have not been documented in Thai populations. This study attempted to investigate the total and particular nasal septum area and the correlation among septum components in the North –East Thai cadaver specimens.
Methods: The fifty-four nasal septums of North-East Thai cadavers (35 males and 19 females) were carefully dissected, photographed and then measured the areas by using a reference ruler for calibration by Image-Pro Plus 2.0 software (Media Cybernetics, Silver Spring, USA) for the area analyses.
Results: The results showed that the total area of Thai nasal septum was 2,180.02 ± 351.45 mm2. Interestingly, the areas of total nasal septum and of individual nasal septum components (PPE, VB, and SC ) in males were significantly higher than those of females (p < 0.05). In males, the nasal septum area was 2,252.74 ± 299.93 mm2 whereas 2,046.08 ± 409.80 mm2 was of females. Individually the areas of PPE, VB, and SC of males were 842.42 ± 119.44 mm2, 576.93 ± 119.82 mm2, and 569.14 ± 116.78 mm2, respectively. In contrast to males, the areas of PPE, VB, and SC of females were 729.65 ± 161.27 mm2, 550.37 ± 144.79 mm2, and 500.16 ± 136.63 mm2, respectively.
Conclusion: The present study found that the nasal septum areas (both total and individual) of males were significantly larger than those of females. These results could be used as basic information in considerations of nasal septum surgery in The North-East Thai populations.
Key words: nasal septum; cadavers; perpendicular plate of ethmoid bone; vomer bone; septal cartilage
